Olympism in Action â€“ Sport Serving Humankind

June 2013

Olympism in Action Sport Serving Humankind

Department of International Cooperation and Development

Olympism in Action – Sport Serving Humankind

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Cover Photo Credit: IOC

International Olympic Committee, June 2013


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Olympism in Action

Sport Serving Humankind

Contents

Message

By Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee .................................................................... 5

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 7

By T. A. Ganda Sithole, Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Development. ................... 7

1.1 The IOC and the UN ............................................................................................................................................. 7

1.2 Relations with UN family ...................................................................................................................................... 8

1.3 Development through sport................................................................................................................................... 8

1.4 Sport for peace ...................................................................................................................................................... 8

1.5 Humanitarian actions ......................................................................................................................................... 10

1.6 Talking to young people ........................................................................................................................................ 11

1.7 Sport and gender equality ..................................................................................................................................... 11

1.8 Olympic education and culture ............................................................................................................................ 12

1.9 Sport, environment and the Olympic Legacy ...................................................................................................... 13

1.10 Conferences and seminars ................................................................................................................................... 13

2. Human Development ................................................................................................................................................ 14

2.1 Our philosophy ................................................................................................................................................... 14

2.2 Capacity building efforts .................................................................................................................................... 15

2.3 Social integration ............................................................................................................................................... 16

2.4 Making the difference for children and youth .................................................................................................. 16

2.5 Olympic Games legacy ....................................................................................................................................... 17

2.6 Bringing joy and hope to the most vulnerable ................................................................................................. 18

2.7 Giving is Winning .............................................................................................................................................. 19


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2.8 Support of major humanitarian crises ............................................................................................................. 20

2.9 Still more to be done ......................................................................................................................................... 20

3. Health and Well-being ............................................................................................................................................ 21

3.1 Our philosophy .................................................................................................................................................. 21

3.2 Healthy legacy of the Olympic Games ............................................................................................................. 22

3.3 Sport as a key for healthy lifestyles for all ....................................................................................................... 23

3.4 Fighting against the HIV/AIDS epidemic ........................................................................................................ 25

4. The Promotion of Peace ......................................................................................................................................... 27

4.1 Translating the Olympic Truce into reality ...................................................................................................... 28

4.2 National and regional advocacy ....................................................................................................................... 29

4.3 From advocacy to field action .......................................................................................................................... 30

4.4 The Olympic Truce and the Games ................................................................................................................... 31

5. Education and Culture ........................................................................................................................................... 34

5.1 The Olympism platform ................................................................................................................................... 34

5.2 A global dialogue ............................................................................................................................................... 35

5.3 The blending of sport, culture and education .................................................................................................. 36

5.4 The communication of cultural capital ............................................................................................................ 37

5.5 A 365-day model ............................................................................................................................................... 38

5.7 The road ahead................................................................................................................................................... 41

6. Gender Equality ....................................................................................................................................................... 42

6.1 The IOC and gender equality policy ................................................................................................................. 42

6.2 Coming a long way ............................................................................................................................................ 43

6.3 Key factor to success ......................................................................................................................................... 44

6.4 Women leaders ................................................................................................................................................. 45

6.5 Gender mainstreaming programmes ............................................................................................................... 47

6.6 World conferences ............................................................................................................................................ 49

6.7 IOC Women and Sport Awards ........................................................................................................................ 50

6.8 The way forward – building on partnerships .................................................................................................. 50


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7. Environmental Sustainability ............................................................................................................................... 51

7.1 IOC heeding the clarion call .............................................................................................................................. 51

7.2 Harnessing inspiration ..................................................................................................................................... 52

7.3 A communicative synergy through regional seminars .................................................................................... 53

7.4 Partner engagement on sustainability ............................................................................................................. 54

7.5 Going the extra mile ......................................................................................................................................... 55

8. The IOC Youth Strategy ......................................................................................................................................... 56

8.1 The vision, mission, and objectives .................................................................................................................. 56

8.2 Advocacy ........................................................................................................................................................... 57

8.3 Education .......................................................................................................................................................... 58

8.4 Activation .......................................................................................................................................................... 59

9. IOC conferences – networking, sharing ideas and dialogue ....................................................................... 61

Glossary of Acronyms .................................................................................................................................................... 62


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Message

By Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee

We all know that sport can play an important role in contributing to a

better and more peaceful world. We all know about the enormous

potential of sport, its global reach, its universal language, and its

impact on communities in general and young people in particular.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has therefore identified

development goals it believes it can help advance through sport,

together with its partners, namely the National Olympic Committees,

the International Federations and the Olympic Games Organising

Committees, and also with governments, UN agencies, programmes

and funds, as well as non-governmental organisations.

However, much remains to be done to ensure that sport is used

systematically and in a concerted manner. That is the raison d‟être of

the International Forum on Sport for Peace and Development, the third

edition of which is being held at the UN in New York on 5 and 6 June

2013. Jointly organised by the IOC and the UN Office on Sport for

Development and Peace (UNOSDP), with the support of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC),

the theme of this 2013 edition is “Creating a Common Vision” in order to focus specifically on the impact

of sport on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and how to move forward with the

mainstreaming of sport in development policies and strategies.

By using sport as a tool, the IOC and its partners implement various activities – as illustrated in this

report – across the globe in fields such as humanitarian assistance, peace-building, education, gender

equality, the environment and the fight against HIV/AIDS, hence contributing to the achievement of the

UN MDGs. The UN Observer status granted to the IOC pays tribute to these efforts and is a sign of the

strong bond between the IOC and the UN, which share the same philosophy and values.

Today, physical activity is no longer a luxury; it is a duty and responsibility. Today, it is essential for

general development, good health and a longer life. As physical inactivity is recognised as one of the

leading risk factors for global mortality, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised sport and

physical activity as one of the three pillars for the effective prevention of non-communicable diseases

(NCDs), alongside good nutrition and avoiding tobacco. The entire sports movement and its stakeholders

must reinforce their collaboration in this field, while at the same time respecting each other‟s space and

autonomy.

If I had one wish to make, it would be that the entire community as a whole is aware of and active in the

development of humankind.

While the role of sport in driving and achieving the MDGs has been recognised, it is necessary that this be

reinforced in preparation for support of the envisaged Sustainable Development Goals. The theme of

Rio+20, The Future We Want, was appropriate in that young people were placed at the centre of the

sustainability for which we all hope.


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That resonates with the renewed thrust of the IOC to emphasise the involvement of young people, and to

provide resources for the creation and distribution of relevant tools that attract young people to adopt

healthy lifestyles and to be active in life.

Sport is and will remain our main mission. However, we have a civil responsibility to place it at the service

of humanity for the benefit of society as a whole. The power of sport as an educational and

communication tool makes it a natural and key element of sustainability and the development of society.

However, whilst there is no doubt about the positive role sport can play and has played in society, it is still

very much a work in progress. Much will have been achieved when nations factor sport into their national

development agendas.

Let us continue to work together to tap into the full potential of sport.


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1. Introduction

By T. A. Ganda Sithole, Director of the Department of International Cooperation and

Development.

1.1 The IOC and the UN

Direct relations between the IOC and the UN have spanned three UN Secretary Generals – Boutros-

Boutros Ghali, Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon. Each one of them has raised the bar on the relationship, Mr.

Ghali supporting for the first time an Olympic Games-related resolution which was debated and adopted

by the UN General Assembly; Mr Annan receiving the Olympic Torch at the UN and visiting the IOC to

discuss the support for sport in his drive for progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and

Mr. Ban visiting the IOC on two occasions, attending the 2009 Olympic Congress as guest of honour and

institutionalising the two-yearly report on sport to the UN General Assembly.

Mr. Ban has also undertaken a joint trip to Lusaka, Zambia with IOC President, Jacques Rogge, visiting

the Olympic Youth Development Centre, a project of the far reaching multi-million dollar Olympic Sport

for Hope programme of the IOC whose purpose is as much about bringing sport to young people where

they do not have enough facilities as it is about development of the community at large, education for the

young people, health and peace. No doubt, Mr. Ghali would have continued to build on the relationship

between the IOC and the UN. But he was to serve just one term. His successors have had more time to

factor in sport in their agendas having also recognised its value, its incredible reach, its universal

acceptance as the best ever communication tool there was but which could also be just as destructive if it

was not put to good use.

The UN 2009 invitation to the IOC to participate in the work of the General Assembly, the first time that a

sports organisation had thus been accorded such an honour, and to become only the fifth international

organisation that has no links to governments to join the august body, was probably the ultimate in the

relations between the two organisations. For the first time, sport had a voice where it mattered the most.

The world sporting movement could now directly try and convince those governments that still needed to

be convinced, that sport was good for development, for health, for education and for mobilising young

people and the community for peace. They could use it to reach out to the more than 300,000 child

soldiers in conflicts around the world and that governments would be making a wise choice by investing

in sport, allowing more time for sport and physical activities at school and providing safe playing areas for

children.

To that end, the IOC has been discussing legislation and relevant actions with ministers and relevant and

interested regional organisations. The European Union and the African Union have been foremost in their

quest to engage in sport. A near-revolution in the understanding of sport is taking place in Africa. With

the involvement of continental sports organisations, the African Union ministers of sport and youth have

crafted the ground-breaking New Architecture for Sport in Africa, a policy that will shift sport from being

treated as an entertainment undertaking to one that contributes to peace, security, development, gender

equity and education. Unlike in the European Union, there is still need for African countries to fully

subscribe to the new policy and mechanisms, now hamstrung by lack of funding, need to be put in place in

AU structures to over-see implementation.


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1.2 Relations with UN family

The vast majority of UN agencies, funds and programmes have signed Memorandums of Understanding

with the IOC. Over the past 12 years, the IOC has upped its engagement with the organisations and

increased communication and adding resources to activities with those that were development-inclined,

especially in developing countries. The result has seen dramatic increase in resources being applied to

activities with, in particular, the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations High Commissioner

for Refugees (UNHCR) and, mainly through NGOs and National Olympic Committees, the UNAIDS.

If figures from the fields are something to go by, vast numbers of young people have now been touched by

the IOC sports programmes and sport has played a role in changing lives. The creation of the United

Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) has created new

avenues for collaboration between the IOC and the UN in an area that is deemed as extremely important

in the very development of mankind itself. However, like any new organisation, UN Women have,

between setting itself up and immediately starting to do its job, been weighing its future relation with the

IOC.

1.3 Development through sport

Placing sport at the service of development may not be the preserve of the IOC. However, the organisation

has committed immense resources to making lives better through sport. The Olympic Sports for Hope

programme has landed in Haiti, a country that not only has for a long time faced economic development

challenges, but also is still to recover from the devastating earthquake that took the lives of thousands and

destroyed property worth billions of dollars.

The multi-million dollar project certainly dwarfs hundreds of other projects, from Isla Fuerte, the Pacific

Ocean island of Columbia, to Gatumba in Burundi, the IOC has played its part in providing facilities to

societies that were in need. Each and every one of the facilities has a story behind it. Either the people are

so poor they cannot afford the facilities, and providing them will improve their livelihood, or it may be a

case of providing a facility that will be used to bring post-conflict society together.

In some cases the IOC has simply funded projects because of a link they had to sport. The construction of

a clinic in rural Tanzania in collaboration with the WFP and the refurbishing of a maternity outpost across

the road from the Boane OlympAfrica Centre in peri-urban Maputo are cases in point.

1.4 Sport for peace

Organising Committees of the Olympic Games have gradually integrated the Olympic Truce into their

activities. Since 2004, when the Olympic Truce featured at the Olympic Games in Athens, albeit as a

stand-alone activity, subsequent organising committees have either brought Truce activities into the

village or, as was the case with London, made them a programme of the organisation. The Hellenic

Government of the day was first to truly mobilise world governments to co-sponsor the UN Resolution on

the Olympic Games entitled “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal” in

2003. The Resolution became a permanent feature on the UN General Assembly agenda in 1993.


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Two years later, the organisers of the Games in Turin improved on the Athens project by introducing

Olympic Truce walls for both officials and the athletes to append their signatures in support of peace. The

Chinese also integrated the Olympic Truce, and for the first time built a permanent wall in tribute to

peace, a structure that has become a legacy of the 2008 Games. In Vancouver the Olympic Truce was

taken over by the Governor General and the government who saw the Games as an opportunity to reach

out to the diverse make-up of the country‟s youth population. The Olympic Winter Games in 2010 were

also the first to be held on land owned by indigenous people. They took ownership of the Games as the

authorities exploited the opportunity to the full and ensured that the harmony created around the

organisation of the Games became part of Canadian culture.

The Governor General Michaëlle Jean‟s engagement with young people under the Olympic Truce banner

confounded many. Young people turned up in their thousands at events such as one she held at a

shopping mall. Along with HSH Prince Albert II, himself a known environmentalist and believer in the

qualities of sport as a driver for peace, she allowed young people to talk about themselves, their

communities, greater Canada and their aspirations for peace. Under normal circumstances, this

unscripted, live internet streamed event would have been a risky undertaking. But such was the powerful

message for peace there was no other way to deliver it. In the Olympic Village the organisers for the first

time extended the Olympic Truce to the Paralympic Games. The monuments to this event were built to

last in the two Games Villages.

True to the tradition of subsequent organising committees raising the bar, the London Organising

Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) made the Olympic Truce an integral

part of the organisation of the Games. Teams checking into the Games Village were required to add

signing of the Olympic Truce to the traditional welcome ceremony.

The UN Secretary-General participated in the Olympic Torch Relay for the first time, and later surprised

the tens of thousands who attended the Opening Ceremony and the billions who followed it on live

television broadcasts by carrying the Olympic flag into the Stadium. Until then the Secretary-General‟s

involvement in opening ceremonies had been limited to his recorded messages calling for peace before,

during and after the Games, and provided a window of opportunity for peace initiatives to be undertaken

in conflict areas. This breaking of new ground by London will be hard to beat, especially considering that

the government mobilised ALL the Member States of the UN to co-sponsor the Resolution in the General

Assembly.

The Department, in collaboration with the authorities in London and the International Olympic Truce

Centre, has followed up on the good examples of London and will make the necessary recommendations

to Sochi, Rio and PyeongChang. The IOC, however, continues to adopt the policy that while the organising

committees are required to drive the UN Resolution one year before the Games and to include Olympic

Truce activities in the Games, the exact nature of the activities should be determined by the organising

committee and the authorities in the relevant city and country respectively. Sochi, Rio and PyeongChang

have expressed their wish to place the Olympic Truce at the centre of their activities. And for good reason.

The organisers of the 2016 Games are determined to use the Games to address the serious socio-economic

problems in crime-infested areas and to provide safe environments for young people who, for lack of

economic activities, education and sporting opportunities, turn to crime.

PyeongChang organisers, on the other hand, have their work cut out for them. One of the greatest legacies

of the Seoul 1988 Games was the setting up of the Seoul Peace Prize, only recently awarded to Mr Ban. In

their bid for the Games, going back to two previously failed attempts, PyeongChang insisted that the


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Games would offer an unprecedented opportunity to promote peace and understanding in the Korean

Peninsula, given also the venue‟s proximity to its northern neighbour.

All that said, the immediate concern is for the Olympic Truce programme in the organisation of the

Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Although not much has been said about the preparations, it is known

that the Russian Government will present to the UN General Assembly later this year the Olympic Truce

Resolution for its consideration and adoption. The first-ever session of the annual Sport and Peace

Convention was hosted by the Organising Committee in Sochi, thereby demonstrating their dedication to

the concept.

The Russian government is itself sponsoring a number of Olympic Values projects around the Games. It is

determined to ensure that the Games are held in conditions of peace and that they will contribute to

understanding and peaceful coexistence among the population and with the country‟s neighbours.

1.5 Humanitarian actions

The IOC‟s humanitarian policy has been following a two-track approach. It has provided humanitarian

support on the back of sport where young people and communities who live in deprived areas or refugee

camps are provided sports equipment. The IOC has also provided direct funding to alleviate humanitarian

crises. Victims of tsunami and earthquake disasters and those displaced by war and environmental

phenomenon have all been considered for aid by the IOC, either directly or through expert international

organisations.

Giving is Winning, a project that has been undertaken solely at the last three Summer Olympic Games,

has become an iconic experience through which athletes, officials and sponsors of the Olympic Games,

partners and supporters have expressed their support for young people, particularly in refugee camps.

Tens of thousands of clothing items have been collected in the name of the Olympic Games for people in

camps as far apart as Africa and Asia.

The IOC itself has donated millions of dollars to humanitarian causes. For the first time last year, in a

typical self-help approach to a continental problem, the Association of National Olympic Committees of

Africa (ANOCA) joined the IOC in donating money to alleviate a humanitarian crisis which threatened the

lives of millions in East Africa. Through these programmes, the IOC dispenses to young people a culture

of concern, of solidarity and of giving. Such has been the success of the educational part of the Giving is

Winning project that, long after the Athens, Beijing, and London Games, athletes and other entities of the

Olympic Movement kept on sending in donations in the name of the project.

The Department has mooted a major shake-up of the project and will present a proposal to the IOC

President and to the IOC Executive Board. Under the new proposal, financially able NOCs and high profile

athletes would be offered opportunities to adopt refugee camps, teams or sportspersons living in refugee

camps. They will be encouraged to visit the camps, meet the persons they are sponsoring, provide

equipment and participate in preparing sports fields. The project would have been proposed to the IOC

President and the Executive Board for their consideration in time for the London Games, but for the time

it took to put the project together.


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The IOC has, as usual, set aside funding for continued collaboration with humanitarian organisations

such as the WFP and UNHCR. The unfolding tragedy caused by the sectarian conflict in Syria has not

escaped the attention of the IOC. At the time of compiling this report, the Department had just been on a

fact-finding mission to Jordan to discuss delivery of sports aid that has been offered by the IOC for the

refugees in both Jordan and Turkey. The IOC has also made available to the humanitarian organisations

dealing with the situation funding for the procurement of specific needs as per the request of the UNHCR.

The situation is dire, and more refugees continue to pour across the borders to Jordan and Turkey.

1.6 Talking to young people

In response to the overwhelming calls at the 2009 Olympic Congress for the IOC to directly reach out to

young people, a major project, the Youth Strategy, has been authorised by the Executive Board. A fully-

funded four-year plan is meant, among other things, to encourage young people to take up sport and for

the population at large to adopt healthy lifestyles. At the top of the Youth Strategy is a plan to produce

generic materials for use by non-professional sports people to keep them in shape and stay healthy.

The IOC has an obligation to help society get moving. Two years ago, the President of the IOC was invited

to the UN General Assembly to join world Heads of State and government to talk about the serious

situation created by non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Suddenly, the world had woken up to find itself

in the midst of a fully fledged pandemic of HIV and AIDS proportions that was killing millions across the

globe. Yet the long-term prevention did not necessarily have to be invented in a lab. It was instead

available through healthy lifestyles.

The IOC President pledged the support of the Olympic Movement, that it would do its best to get young

people in the main to play sport, to exercise their bodies. Plans unfolding in the Youth Strategy are

therefore meant to contribute to making real that undertaking. The enhanced Sports for All programme

and the worldwide Olympic Day celebration are certainly not just for the competitive sportspersons. It is

all part of the Olympic Movement‟s idea to get society moving, exercising and living well.

The IOC is also currently looking into the possibility of 23 June being recognised as the International Day

of Sport and Physical Activity. Judging by the need for humanity to recognise once again that the body is

designed to move, that we all have a chance to live longer if we adopt healthy lifestyles, there certainly

may be a case for just one day in a year to dedicate our thoughts, actions and focus to the immense benefit

of sport and physical activity.

1.7 Sport and gender equality

The IOC has relentlessly pursued the policy of gender equality in and through sport. This year is the first

of a four-year programme that has been accepted by the Executive Board for an accelerated programme to

promote women in and through sport. As an incentive, winners of the annual IOC Women and Sport

awards, starting this year, are also awarded funding for their favourite women and girls-related projects.

Special training programmes for women, to equip them with the necessary and requisite knowledge that

would make them competitive administrators, have been designed. Coaching and athletic scholarships as

well as degree programmes in sports administration have long since been the target of Olympic Solidarity

funding.


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However, while the tendency has been to judge the success of the policy by the number of women who are

elected to positions of greater responsibility in NOCs, IFs and Continental Associations, the fact remains

that much more has happened “below the radar”. For a start, the Games in London were the first at which

every NOC could enter female competitors without any of their governments setting restrictions.

The numbers of women elected to senior sports positions is expected to increase dramatically this year,

even though the actual numbers of presidents and secretaries general might not show discernible positive

changes. It is highly unlikely that by the end of the election circle there will still be a single NOC, IF or

Continental Association without a woman on their boards.

The continuous push for a situation whereby girls and women were offered, at least at the Games, the

same opportunity to participate in sport as their male counterparts, has seen dramatic improvements in

attitudes towards females, even in the most conservative of countries. The creation of UN Women, which

has signed an MoU with the IOC to promote women and girls, could therefore not have happened at a

better time.

1.8 Olympic education and culture

Educational programmes of the Olympic Games have assumed greater importance with the passage of

time. The onset of the Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) in time for the Games in Beijing

and the creation of the Youth Olympic Games have placed education at the centre of the Olympic Games

action. It is highly unlikely that the numbers that were attained by China in the run-up to the 2008

Beijing Games could ever be attempted in the next dozens of years. Only China, at least for now, could

mobilise 400 million young people to participate in a comprehensive Olympic education programme in

time for the Games.

The London Games programme was unique in terms of its content and its application. London worked on

a long-term programme for its schools. The Russians have created a whole new Olympic University as a

legacy of the Sochi Games, the first such project of its kind and one that will be as difficult to match, more

so considering they are hosting the much smaller Olympic Winter Games.

The OVEP has spread fast, particularly in developing countries which lack the capacity to develop their

own programmes. This year, OVEP, unveiled in China in its original form in the city of Nanjing, gets ready

for the second edition of the Youth Olympic Games next year. The flexibility of the programme is what

makes it attractive to big and small NOCs alike. The Brazilian NOC has rewritten parts of the manual to

reflect its own situation. The organisers of the YOG will add 10 pages to the current manual without

changing its content, in order to reflect some of their specific situation, and will use it to reach out to

millions of young people.

The four-yearly sport and art competition and exhibition was last year a great success. London exhibited

the entries in the iconic Guildhall, the same building in which the Magna Carta is displayed. Other

cultural projects have been put on hold as they are being restructured – Sport and Photography, Sport

and Video and Sport and Literature.


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1.9 Sport, environment and the Olympic Legacy

The Earth Summit last year, Rio+20, endorsed the redefinition of sustainability to include socio-economic

aspects alongside the environment. There were congruent with IOC direction, and the policy could not

have been starker, first with the youth focus of the conference as reflected in the theme “The Future We

Want”, the announcement by the UN Secretary-General that he would be creating a position in his office

of a youth special adviser, and the shaping up of the Sustainable Development Goals as successor to the

MDGs which “expire” in two years‟ time.

Since 1994, the IOC has been laying stock to the environmental legacy of the Games and encouraging its

entities to follow suit. The recently published Olympic Legacy report provides proof, if any were needed,

of the great all-round legacy that the Games bequeath host cities and countries. Admittedly that was not

the case in the past. White elephants that dot the landscapes of early organisers of the Games, built

without their future contribution to society, have done great damage to the reputation of the Games as a

mega consumptive event that contributes nothing to the economy of host countries.

Sustainability is now key to any bid that wishes to be treated seriously. The post-use of facilities, the

legacy of increased participation in sport by young people, access to facilities by the population at large,

and infrastructural development in general now count toward the successful hosting of the Olympic

Games.

1.10 Conferences and seminars

The IOC organises dozens of world conferences and seminars around the world. They are the best way to

bring together experts from outside the sporting movement with its own, to exchange ideas on subjects

ranging from gender equality and environmental sustainability to education and culture, science and

medicine, sport for all and sport for development and peace.

The 3rd IOC-UN Forum on Sport for Peace and Development being held in New York is a product of a

long line of seminars and forums which dealt only with regional issues and with little UN involvement.

This session in New York is significant in more ways than one. First, it will be the first time that an IOC-

related international forum has been organised at the United Nations in New York. Secondly, it is the last

IOC international conference before the change of the guard at the world‟s premier sports organisation.

And, finally, the world will witness the beginning of the immortalisation of relations between the IOC and

the UN when President Rogge and Mr Ban cut the ribbon to begin the process of opening a permanent

sports exhibition in the UN building.

This report is a conglomeration of just a few of the actions that the IOC has taken over the past 12 years to

live true to its credo to place sport at the service and development of humankind.


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2. Human Development

2.1 Our philosophy

“The IOC and the sports movement in general have a social responsibility to provide access to sports practice and in

so doing to spread the values of sport to all sections of society”. Jacques Rogge, IOC President

Over the years, the IOC, as a responsible member of civil society, has implemented a comprehensive

programme creating opportunities for access to sport and physical activities and using them as tools for

socio-economic community development. A way to develop sport worldwide, but more importantly, a

modest though committed contribution to support the progression of humankind‟s common objectives for

achieving universal human development and peace between and among nations.

To deliver this programme, the IOC has been able to count on the support and the expertise of numerous

partners, without whom this intervention would have not been possible. It has in particular leveraged its

cooperation platform with United Nations‟ agencies and other international or national governmental or

non-governmental organizations specialised in development and humanitarian assistance. It has worked

with National Olympic Committees that have also committed their resources and support to put sport at

the service of the most vulnerable and under-privileged, and in particular children, young people and

women. It has furthermore leveraged synergies with several International Federations, which have also

designed, funded and applied their programmes to the cause of human development through sport.

© IOC


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2.2 Capacity building efforts

Using sporting infrastructures as a starting point, but in fact aiming to support rebuilding local

communities and empower them through sport, is a field where the IOC has invested heavily over the

years.

Together with the International Labour

Organisation (ILO), the NOC of

Mozambique and the local development

agency, a major poverty alleviation and

economic development programme has

been implemented for the community of

Boane, 250km away from the Mozambique

capital. Support has been provided to pay

school fees for primary school children

from under-privileged families and bring

them back into the educational system. At

the same time, local women have been

trained to manufacture school uniforms

and to produce groceries to be sold at the

local markets, and have formed a

cooperative. The OlympAfrica centre, where the programme is being implemented, is also used as a sports

training centre for some 1,000 children from the surrounding villages, who benefit from sport and

education courses.

Sport development projects for rural communities of several countries such as Samoa, Guinea and Niger

have taken shape with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), aiming not only to promote

physical activity and healthy well-being, but also to consolidate the community structure and prevent the

exodus of youth from the countryside to the cities. Building on the FAO‟s existing Special Programme for

Food Security, the IOC has provided sports material and helped rehabilitate old basic sports

infrastructures and build new ones, under the local leadership and monitoring, and with the cooperation

of the NOCs concerned.

More recently, a sports centre opened in 2010 in Lusaka, Zambia, the first in a series of multi-sport

facilities scheduled to be built in developing countries as part of the IOC‟s Sport for Hope programme.

Including indoor and outdoor venues, the centre aims to provide young athletes, young people and

neighbouring communities in low and middle-income countries with better opportunities to practise

sport, as well as offer them a wide range of value-based educational programmes, health services and

community activities aimed at improving their quality of life. Construction of the second Olympic Youth

Development Centre recently got underway in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as part of the nation‟s reconstruction

process, through providing direct support to rebuilding its sporting infrastructures, and contributing to

promoting social values and a hope for a better future. Here again, the joint venture between the IOC,

Haitian NOC, International Federations, the Government, the private sector and civil society groups is

striving to making a difference for youth and future generations to come.

© NOC of Mozambique


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2.3 Social integration

In Northern Uganda, following years of conflict, many of the internally displaced persons and child

soldiers who used to live in camps are now returning to their home villages. But reintegration into a

normal life is challenging. The IOC has supported a sport-based programme implemented by NGO

Warchild Holland, in partnership with UNICEF, which aims at actively involving children and young

people in the activities of the community and rebuilding social networks. An inter-parish football and

netball league benefited over 16,000 children and 25,000 adults, with sport helping them to relax, focus

on healthy behaviours and social cooperation. Related community work was also implemented through

the project, helping young people to define their new role in the community and increase their self-

esteem.

With the United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP), another project

model was successfully implemented.

Sports elements have been added to a

national programme against poverty and

violence jointly implemented with the

Ministry of Public Security and Justice in

El Salvador.

The “Sport for Peace and Development”

project allowed successful interventions

in some of the most violent

municipalities in the country. The

rehabilitation or construction of

playgrounds and the organisation of

special sporting activities, during which

young people were educated on solidarity, respect for themselves and others, co-existence and

understanding, brought a new dimension to the fight against high levels of crime.

2.4 Making the difference for children and youth

Just like the previous examples of projects, those that have been put in place in close collaboration with

the World Food Programme (WFP) and their School Feeding Programme, or with the UNHCR over the

last years have been successful because of their simplicity and the immediate benefit they provide to the

beneficiaries, and to children and youth in particular. For these particular projects, the IOC has developed

a specific product, an IOC Sports Kit, a solid and lockable metallic trunk containing three items of basic

sports equipment (such as a football, volleyball, netball, basketball, table tennis kit or other local

preferred sports) as well as other light recreation material such bibs, caps, chalk, pickets to mark the

playing field, inflating pumps and tape measures that provide an opportunity to about 300 children to

enjoy sport and physical activity in very diverse settings. Since their creation in 2009, the Sport Kits have

been welcomed by over 650,000 children and young people in WFP-supported schools as direct

beneficiaries, and around one million people if we also consider the community around them in 42

© UNDP


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countries. IOC TOP partner Samsung has also recognised the value and effectiveness of this programme

and joined the IOC to help provide sports kits around the world.

Among numerous examples that

could be mentioned, Afghanistan is

certainly eloquent. In addition to

receiving deliveries from the WFP,

children of 13 provinces were also

provided with sports kits. For them, it

was a true surprise. The most moving

reactions came from the children

themselves, such as 13-year-old

Ahmadullah showing an old football,

he explained: “I like playing football.

A while ago, my friends and I

contributed 20 Afghanis each (about

40 US cents) to buy a football, but it

is very old now. There were some

children who wanted to play but they

had no money to buy a ball. Now with

this new gear, everyone will be able to

play.” These words say it all.

“Development of society is connected

to the development of children. If the children are healthy and strong, they will be able to play a key role

in the development of their society and could properly lead the community in the future,” said Abdul

Moqim Halimi, Head of the Department of Education in the Panjsheer region. We may hope that maybe

among these children, there could be a champion of tomorrow. History tells us that Paul Tergat, a

legendary runner and champion of Kenya, was once among the kids who benefited from the WFP School

Feeding Programme. It is no wonder that he has since become one of their Goodwill Ambassadors.

2.5 Olympic Games legacy

The IOC is known principally for its main activity: the Olympic Games. But how does this major elite

sports event align with the IOC mission for a peaceful and better world through sport? This is the question

that is often put on the table and which the IOC has increasingly addressed over the years. Indeed, the

Olympic Games is an event that goes well beyond showcasing sporting excellence. The IOC and the local

Organising Committees, in partnership with national and local authorities, are working jointly to ensure

an increasing lasting and positive legacy for the host city, the region and the country at large. Major sports

event these days are specifically designed to also contribute to economic development and defined causes

that directly benefit cities, countries and their inhabitants. Job creation, lasting economic benefits,

environmental sustainability and infrastructural development, such as housing, roads and

communications, are provided with a long-term view of supporting the welfare of the people.

The recent Organising Committees of the Olympic Games have set a high standard for contributing to

human development. Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012 have raised the bar even higher: Vancouver

with its involvement of the indigenous people in the organisation of the Games, action that has brought

peace and harmony where none was known between the four host First Nations; and London with its

IOC Sport Kits / © IOC


18

International Inspiration programme, a comprehensive sport for development programme across the UK

and 20 countries, that is benefiting tens of thousands of children and youngsters around the world

through multiple partnerships at government, civil society and UN levels.

2.6 Bringing joy and hope to the most vulnerable

Reality shows that humanitarian and

emergency situations in the world are

often tended to last, unfortunately,

and victims of natural disasters, wars

or internal conflicts endure

sufferance and disarray for months

and years. When their basic survival

needs are met by specialised

humanitarian agencies, there is a

place for sport to come in and bring

much needed physical and

psychological benefits. In

partnership with the International

Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),

the IOC has helped in the

rehabilitation of outdoor safe play

areas for young people and children

of 42 communities of Azerbaijan, where landmines are a deadly legacy of years of hostility. Children

themselves and community leaders were closely involved in designing the play areas, which was an

important dimension of the project itself.

Similarly, the ICRC integrated in its physical rehabilitation programme in Afghanistan and Cambodia a

special sports dimension, in partnership with the IOC, which concerns paraplegics (whose disabilities are

a result of mines and explosive remnants, polio or other hazards). Sport, in particular tennis, basketball,

table tennis and archery, has a positive effect not only on the physical rehabilitation process of

paraplegics, but also on their self-esteem and reintegration into society. Sports events are also used to

raise awareness of preventive

measures, treatment and the rights

of people with disabilities.

Moreover, local physiotherapists

have been trained to integrate

adapted sport in their rehabilitation

curriculum.

The IOC also offered humanitarian

sport assistance to some of the most

vulnerable of all, refugees, internally

displaced people and returning

refugees, and has worked closely

© ICRC

© IOC


19

with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to this end in numerous countries of

Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. With over 34 million people living in this situation, it is difficult

to ignore their needs. Refugee populations, which are largely composed of young people and children,

need leisure activities to overcome the idleness of their life in a camp, to give them a sense of joy and

hope, and to bring a semblance of normality and structure to their lives in disarray. In Namibia, the IOC

and UNHCR, together with the local NOC, teamed up to implement an ambitious three-year sport and

education programme for some 8,500 young people living in the Osire refugee settlement in the centre of

the country. The programme has been specifically designed to involve young people in sports activities in

order to alleviate some of the major problems affecting them, namely teenage pregnancy, sexually

transmitted infections (such as HIV), and drug abuse.

But sports activities can also serve to

facilitate dialogue with the local

communities surrounding the camps. In

Costa Rica for instance, the IOC and

UNHCR, together with the local NOC and

the Red de Jovenes sin Fronteras joined

forces around a project promoting

inclusive education and local integration

of young urban refugees through sport,

and recreational and awareness-raising

activities. Knitting ties towards

integration, young refugees and migrants

as well as young local members of the

beneficiary communities gathered for

theoretical lessons on migration and

refugee issues, Olympic Values education sessions, not forgetting several sporting and recreational

activities.

Fighting sexual gender based violence through sport is another area of intervention. Team play, fun,

leadership, cooperation and decision-making skills are among the core elements which can facilitate

behaviour change among these vulnerable populations. Uganda and Venezuela UNHCR local teams and

the IOC have developed a sport and education based programme for girls and boys of these communities

which encompasses mixed team sports competitions and sensitisation on gender issues, sexual

exploitation and abuse.

2.7 Giving is Winning

Building on this philosophy and partnership, since 2004 the IOC and

UNHCR have organised a “Giving is Winning” programme in the run-up

to the Summer Olympic Games. The IOC, NOCs, Federations, sponsors,

athletes, members and other supporters of the Olympic Movement have

joined this world-wide solidarity campaign and donated important

quantities of sports and casual clothing for those in need. Since its

inception, the campaign has collected over 170,000 items of clothing, or

close to 36 containers that have reached refugees in 23 countries.

© UNHCR

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20

Incidentally, several athletes who participated in the Olympic Games know what it is like to be a refugee.

Among them are Guor Marial and Lopez Lomong, both born in what is now South Sudan. Marial

participated in the London Olympic Games in the marathon as an Independent Olympic Athlete under the

Olympic flag, and Lomong as a Team USA athlete in the 5000m. Needless to say that they both

demonstrated their strong support for the “Giving is Winning” campaign.

“Many young refugees spend years languishing in bleak camps, around the world. For them a gift of sportswear

associated with famous athletes from across the Olympic spectrum is a tremendous morale-booster – a sign that the

outside world does still care”. Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

2.8 Support of major humanitarian crises

In parallel to its current programmes of human development through sport, the IOC regularly provides

support, on an ad-hoc basis, of important relief operations through donations of first aid and emergency

goods for populations affected by war, natural disasters and major catastrophes. As for most other IOC

projects at a community level, the NOCs of countries concerned are also involved in these initiatives.

From Darfur populations, to victims of the tsunami in South-Eastern Asia, or the earthquake in Pakistan

or Haiti, or civil war in Syria, humanitarian equipment including tents, blankets, buckets and soap, as well

as cash for food provision, has reached them through partnerships with UNICEF, ICRC or WFP. This is

another way for the IOC to place sport and its network at the service of humanity.

2.9 Still more to be done

Over the last decade, the IOC has invested energy and resources in an average of 20 projects per year that

have become a reality in more than 65 low and middle income countries around the world, be it as a

donor, a contributor or a convener of the project itself. Whatever the scenario, while it has done its best,

the IOC is fully aware that more must and can be done. And scaling up our progress cannot be done

without stronger synergies and open dialogue to maximise resources and capacities.


21

3. Health and Well-being

3.1 Our philosophy

The world today faces many health challenges that undermine the capacity of communities and future

generations to live longer and prosper, not least the increased impact of non-communicable diseases

(NCDs) on mortality rates in developed and developing countries which, to say the least, has reached

alarming proportions. NCDs are not just a threat to the health of people; they are also a threat to the

global socio-economic fabric that binds us together.

Such is their devastation, that according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), they are expected to

claim more than 35 million lives this year. If current trends continue, the death toll will climb to more

than 41 million in just four more years. The impact of NCDs goes well beyond the lives lost and the daily

suffering of millions of people. These preventable diseases have an adverse impact on the economic

growth and social development in countries around the world. Physical inactivity is now recognised as the

fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions in some countries.

At least 2.6 million people die every year from ailments linked to obesity or excess weight.

On another level, malaria and polio are continuing to expand in the most vulnerable populations;

miscarriage and birth mortality are curtailing progress on maternal health; and sedentary behaviours and

drug abuse are acknowledged to have an impact on the development, contribution and the very the future

of young people in many countries.

It is a grim picture but for one thing: something can be done to mitigate this unfolding disaster. The

institutional promotion of healthy lifestyles by the IOC as enshrined in its newly developed Youth Strategy

is the Olympic Movement‟s response to the international community‟s call for greater cooperation,

coordination and collaboration in fighting this new scourge.

Healthy active youth / © Sochi 2014


22

3.2 Healthy legacy of the Olympic Games

The first level of the IOC‟s intervention is in its own arena of expertise - the Olympic Games. Health

promotion and assistance takes another dimension here, but is just as important for those who benefit

from it. The protection of the health of athletes has long been one of the major concerns of the IOC, the

fight against doping in sport and the prevention of injuries being but some of the better known and well-

resourced projects that are undertaken by the IOC with and through International Federations and

related organisations such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The tobacco-free policy that has been enforced by the IOC, and supported by the WHO as an integral part

of the organisation of the Olympic Games, is not only meant to guarantee a smoke-free and therefore

healthy environment in competition venues, but also meant to promote healthy lifestyles beyond the

Games as part of the health legacy of the Olympic Games. With the full support and participation of WHO

and local health authorities, the IOC runs information campaigns about the dangers of tobacco on health.

Similarly, the IOC and WHO have partnered to provide information about nutrition and healthy lifestyles

to athletes participating in and visitors to the Games. As a matter of course, Organising Committees are

required by the IOC to develop and implement a comprehensive, long-term health legacy policy for the

population at large. Its elements include disease surveillance, risk management, health emergency

response, an enhanced living environment for the host city‟s citizens and increased health awareness

among the community in general.

The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) also

provide another important platform to

tackle health issues with young people and

educate them on healthy behaviours.

Concern about youth inactivity and rising

obesity rates was one aspect behind the

IOC‟s decision to launch the YOG,

primarily as an educational venture.

As part of the Culture and Education

Programme, YOG athletes and visitors are

taught about making the right choices in

life though interactive activities. The World

Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) dispenses

education on doping while the

International Federation of the Red Cross

and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has taught

young people about the importance of first aid and the morals of blood donation. The joint UN

Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) has been providing a comprehensive and interactive education

programme on HIV prevention. In a dedicated “Health Zone” in the Athletes‟ Village, the young athletes

also learn about nutritional aspects and the implications of a healthy body image through interactive

games and educational videos.

© IOC

http://www.olympic.org/hbi


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But beyond what is delivered around the Olympic and Youth Olympic Games, the IOC stresses the aspect

of the competitions as an inspiration for everyone to engage in sport and physical activity. The Games give

a worldwide audience a chance to share the joy of competition and encourage millions of young people to

emulate their sporting heroes. In the host country, the Games leave a legacy of world-class sports venues,

a more vibrant sports infrastructure and heightened enthusiasm for sport among the general population,

on which the national government can build sound sports development policies to provide great

opportunity for their population to be physically active and healthy.

3.3 Sport as a key for healthy lifestyles for all

The IOC‟s second level of intervention is

in grassroots sport. Worldwide campaigns

such as the WHO-led “Move for Health”

that were implemented in the 1990s, and

which the IOC supported, have increased

advocacy and generated supporting

programmes to encourage people across

all age groups to become, and stay,

physically active and adopt healthier

behaviours.

Nearly 30 years ago, the IOC established the Sport for All Commission to support efforts to spread the

health and social benefits of regular physical activity. It is worth noting that the commission‟s mandate

speaks of “physical activity” not “sport” or “athletic competition”. The Sport for All Commission also hosts

high-level conferences with educators, academics, sports administrators, government officials,

representatives of UN agencies and other stakeholders to share ideas on ways to encourage physical

activity and healthy lifestyles without necessarily participating competitively. Conclusions of the

conferences have always reconfirmed certain key principles that:

There is a need to focus on the importance of sport and physical activity as a key element of health

policies.

When formulating socio-economic policies, national authorities must always take into

consideration the importance of sport and physical activity as an important element for the health

of the people.

Funding sport and sport for all is an investment in the very health of a nation whose positive

returns are enormous and long term.

The Olympic Day, on which occasion the founding of the IOC on 23 June 1894 is commemorated, has

become a worldwide celebration that typically includes sporting competition and other forms of physical

activity across all age groups throughout the world.

The IOC Medical Commission is also working with leading scientists and experts on promoting health

through sports participation. It has published several expert papers such as the “Health and Fitness of

Young People through Physical Activity and Sport”, and has taken a strong position on the prevention of

NCDs. These documents define the health consequences of inactivity. They establish the scientific basis

for the argument that sports and general physical activity are good for one‟s health. They argue strongly

that no matter one‟s age, continued participation in physical activity contributes to good health. They also

© NOC of Spain


24

provide recommendations on

potential solutions to and

propose global partnerships in

the fight against sedentary

lifestyles.

The contribution of sport and the

IOC in particular to the fight

against NCDs received

recognition, if any was needed,

by the UN in 2011 when President

Rogge was invited to join the

world‟s Heads of State and government at a special high level meeting on NCDs in New York. In his

presentation, the IOC President said in order for sport to work and contribute more effectively to the fight

against NCDs, four key considerations needed to be taken into account and action taken:

More safe and accessible public spaces for physical activity and sport had to be provided.

New partnerships with sectors beyond sport – such as transport, finance, urban planning and

industry, among others – had to be created in order to expand the impact of sport in urban areas.

It was necessary for public authorities to ensure that sport, physical education and physical

activities were considered as an integral part of formal national education.

Public authorities had to be encouraged to invest more in the development of sports infrastructures

and building the necessary capacities in sports organisations.

He spoke about actions that the IOC has

championed in support of the Millennium

Development Goals and in collaboration with expert

partner organisations. There are already many such

examples of results-oriented actions being

undertaken by the IOC in collaboration with non-

sporting organisations. The anti-measles and anti-

polio project in some African countries with the

IFRC and the participation of NOCs being but one

of them.

In Uganda, the IOC has been in partnership with

the Mentor Foundation, a leading international

NGO, educating young people against drug use and

substance abuse. Other examples abound with other

organisations.

© Sochi 2014

© IFRC


25

3.4 Fighting against the HIV/AIDS epidemic

“An estimated 34 million people are living with HIV, with 2,500 new HIV infections being recorded per day, mostly

among young people (…). It is vitally important for young people to have access to information about HIV so that

they can stay HIV-free and lead healthy and productive lives. The sports community is a key partner in reaching

out to young men and women, whether in their villages or towns, or globally”. Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive

Director

Of all the social development

initiatives of the IOC, few have been as

emotive and encompassing as the HIV

and AIDS education project. The AIDS

epidemic poses a real and serious

threat to human existence,

development and security. The fact

that it targets and incapacitates mainly

the young people who form the

backbone of society itself and, of

course, the Olympic Movement, raises

concern for the IOC.

The sports community has not been

spared. It is in this framework and

based on the fundamental principle of

Olympism which strives to place sport

at the service of mankind that the IOC

has developed related programmes of

activities to contribute to the fight

against the epidemic.

The programme aims at promoting AIDS awareness and HIV prevention, as well as fighting

discrimination. This programme is implemented in cooperation with UNAIDS, the Red Cross and Red

Crescent movement, and the non-governmental organisation, Churches United Against HIV and AIDS

(CUAHA) - three organisations which are particularly active in policy development and community work.

On the advocacy side, the IOC, in partnership with UNAIDS and Organising Committees of the Olympic

Games, promotes special educational campaigns during the Olympic Games. Targeting athletes

and officials in the Olympic Villages, the campaigns aim to raise awareness of the epidemic and healthy

behaviours and encourage athletes to become ambassadors of this fight in their own country.

The IOC also organises regional workshops on HIV/AIDS prevention through sport, gathering

together representatives of National Olympic Committees and experts from UNAIDS, the IFRC, UNICEF,

and other local partners to discuss how sport could help support national and international efforts to curb

the spread of the AIDS epidemic, especially among young people.

HIV prevention workshop, Kiev, Ukraine / © IOC


26

The IOC and UNAIDS also published a joint toolkit on HIV

and AIDS prevention through sport is specifically designed

for members of the sports community. Available in English,

French, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish and Kiswahili, it

offers more information on the epidemic, how prevention can be

effective, how sport can be beneficial for HIV-positive people, all

about testing and counselling, specific suggestions for activities

for young people in the age bracket of 10 and over, as they are a

crucial target group for prevention.

Several NOCs, from Brazil to Barbados, Kenya, Lesotho,

Myanmar, Belarus, Fiji to Papua New Guinea, as well as countless

sports organisations are also working on HIV prevention with

their local National Health Councils and local NGOs, and their

efforts are critical if UN targets to stop, and starting to reverse,

the rate of infection is to be met by the 2015 deadline.

© IOC


27

4. The Promotion of Peace

“One of the fundamental principles of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better

world through sport, practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit. This is essentially why

the International Olympic Committee revived the ancient Greek tradition of „Ekecheira‟, the Olympic Truce: using

sport as an instrument to foster dialogue for reconciliation and peace, with the support of the United Nations

calling on its member states.”

Jacques Rogge, IOC President and Chairman of the International Olympic Truce Foundation

In its role as leader of the Olympic Movement and guardian of the Olympic ideals and values, the IOC has

worked tirelessly for over a century to place sport at the centre of the harmonious development of

mankind. Of course, sport alone cannot enforce or maintain peace. But it has a vital role to play in

building a better and more peaceful world. Sport can facilitate dialogue between different communities

and be a catalyst for mutual understanding in our society. To that end, the IOC has undertaken several

initiatives with UN peace-keeping missions, UN agencies, the sports community and governments in

many countries around the globe.

The decision in 2005 by world leaders to formally recognise the value of sport to human development and

its contribution to the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals was the turning point in the

IOC President and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during the London Olympic Torch Relay 2012

© IOC


28

very evolution of the IOC‟s approach to development and peace through sport. At the launch of the

International Year of Sport and Physical Education, former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi

Annan said, “Sport is a universal language. As its best it can bring people together, no matter what their

origin, background, religious beliefs or economic status. And when young people participate in sports or

have access to physical education, they can experience real exhilaration even as they learn the ideas of

teamwork and tolerance. That is why the United Nations is turning more and more to the world of sport

for help in our work for peace and our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”

4.1 Translating the Olympic Truce into reality

The Olympic Games of antiquity were first created in 776 BC in

order to bring a temporary halt to the fighting between Ancient

Greece‟s warring city-states. They were resurrected for the modern

era in Athens, Greece, in 1896, but the Olympic Truce remained

dormant for almost a century. It was only in 1992 that the IOC

decided to revive that ancient concept in order to protect the

interests of the athletes and sport in general, and to encourage the

quest for peaceful and diplomatic solutions to the conflicts around

the globe. In the context of both the ancient and the modern

Olympic Games, the Truce remains one of its dominant values.

The IOC is committed to fulfilling its social responsibility role of

bringing sport and the values of sport to all fields of society; but it

cannot drive this agenda on its own. It is therefore important to

partner with those whose responsibility and expertise lie in

making peace and driving national development.

In this regard, the IOC has cooperated with several NOCs, UN

Agencies and NGOs to undertake projects around the world aiming

to promote dialogue between different communities through sport. Such projects have been carried out in

different countries of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

Since the creation of the International Olympic Truce

Foundation and the International Olympic Truce Centre in

2001, the IOC has focused its activities on advocating this

crucial issue of using sport as a tool for peace-building,

through the organisation of seminars and Forums, and

issuing publications.

In 2005, to celebrate the year dedicated to Sport and

Physical Education, the IOC, the UN Office on Sport

Development and Peace, and the United Nations

Development Programme jointly organised an

international forum in which the Olympic Movement

and the UN sought to streamline their cooperation in the

development of sport at grassroots level, and the promotion

Olympic Torch Lighting Ceremony

/ © IOC

© IOC


29

of human development and peace through sport. The international forum marked a turning point in

relations between the UN and the sports community, and is since 2009, organized on a biennial basis.

4.2 National and regional advocacy

Besides international efforts, national and

regional advocacy programmes have been

developed by the IOC over the years. The first

regional forum on peace and sport was organised

in cooperation with the International Olympic

Truce Center in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 2004, taking

advantage of the route of the Athens Games‟

International Torch Relay through the island.

European and Middle Eastern NOCs, including

Israel and Palestine, participated in the forum in

which the contribution of sport to regional and

national peace-making, post-conflict

reconstruction, development and child protection

were discussed. Since, many other conferences,

seminars and forums have been organised in

cooperation with different partners.

With the International Military Council (CISM), cooperation has led to several Sport for Peace Forums for

military representatives to discuss the role of sport in peacekeeping missions, to define areas of possible

partnerships at national and regional levels among institutions, and stimulate the implementation of joint

peace and sport activities in education for military athletes and for the benefit of the community.

Likewise, the IOC and the Confederation of East and

Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) have

jointly organised two seminars in Tanzania and

Rwanda for the East African countries. Thirteen

countries have sent representatives from NOCs and

National Football Associations to the two events to

share their experiences on how sport, and football in

particular, can contribute to national reconciliation

between their different ethnic and community

groups.

In Peru, the IOC and the NOC cooperated to organise

a unique peace and sport seminar for Latin American

countries in Lima. The seminar was attended

specifically by countries that are experiencing tensions with their indigenous peoples. Representatives

debated how sport could play a role in social inclusion, especially for the indigenous populations, to solve

delinquency and crime and to improve the quality of life of these people.

IOC-CISM Peace and Sport Seminar, Hyderabad, India

© IOC

Sport and Peace seminar, Kigali, Rwanda / © IOC


30

4.3 From advocacy to field action

The IOC has developed field projects in cooperation with its partners

aiming to genuinely promote the understanding among communities

through peaceful competitions and by also providing sports equipment as

well as rehabilitating sports infrastructures in conflict and post-conflict

countries. Many successful projects have been implemented around the

globe, including in Somalia, a country which has suffered from huge

problems such as piracy, hijackings and ethnic killings. The IOC has been

able to ship sports equipment into the country, which the NOC distributed

with the support of the World Food Programme. The IOC also supported

the NOC of Somalia in organising sport and peace competitions.

Since 2006, in Haiti, the IOC, UNICEF, the UN peacekeeping mission, the

government and local companies have cooperated to create a project

initiated by the local NOC to organise the “Peace and Friendship Games”, in

the two border cities of Gantien (Haiti) and Jimani (Dominican Republic). The main objectives of these

Games were to provide a sporting platform for the reconciliation of populations living along the borders of

both countries; and to enable participation in sporting activities for many youngsters, particularly the

most disadvantaged.

In the Great Lakes region, a region that has

experienced the most atrocious wars of

humanity caused by unprecedented ethnic

conflicts, on the occasion of the IOC

President‟s visit in 2011, an Olympic Youth

Sport Centre project jointly funded by the

IOC, the UNDP, the UNOSDP, and the NOC

of Burundi, was officially launched. The multi-

sport complex is located along the border with

the Democratic Republic of Congo, an area

known for tension and violence. The Centre

provides a structure for young generations in

both countries regardless of their ethnic

differences, teaching them Olympic ideals

through sport and thus ensuring lasting peace

in the region.

Similarly, the IOC and several UN

Peacekeeping missions have joined efforts in

trying to use sport in conflict countries, such

as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Côte d‟Ivoire. In Liberia in 2007, together with the

government and several NGOs, a five-week nationwide Sport for Peace programme has been organized

with the aim to use sport as a vehicle to bring people from various counties together and to foster peace

© NOC Haiti

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf launching the programme

on sport for peace / © United Nations


31

and friendship in a country that had just come out of a vicious civil war and was struggling to establish

and maintain peace.

Since 2006, the IOC has also supported the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation initiative; a project with

aims to unite an unmarked border area in which Kenya, Sudan and Uganda meet. The people in this area

have not known peace for many years. The Foundation has organised an annual race for people in the

Great Horn Region, using sport as a unifying force.

4.4 The Olympic Truce and the Games

“Together, the IOC and the United Nations have revived the idea of observing an Olympic Truce. Of course, guns do

not always fall silent, but we shall keep trying. We are still being troubled by all what's happening in North Africa,

in Libya and in many other parts of the Arab world. However, such Olympic Truce pauses can offer a much-needed

respite from violence -- periods in which humanitarian assistance can be delivered. The Truce can also give

mediators crucial time.” Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General

The first initiatives were launched in 1992 by the IOC in cooperation with the UN to enable athletes of the

former Republic of Yugoslavia to participate in the Barcelona Olympic Games. This materialized further

for the 1994 Games , when the UN then passed the first resolution supporting the appeal for an Olympic

Truce, thus recognising the contribution that this could make towards “advancing the purposes and

principles of the Charter of the United Nations”. Since then, the UN General Assembly has repeatedly

expressed its support for the IOC by adopting a resolution entitled “Building a peaceful and better

world through sport and the Olympic ideal” every two years, one year before each edition of the

Olympic Games. Through this symbolic resolution, the UN invites its member States to observe the

Olympic Truce individually or collectively, and to seek, in conformity with the goals and principles of the

United Nations Charter, the peaceful settling of all international conflicts through peaceful and diplomatic

means, and recognises the importance of the IOC initiatives for human well-being and international

understanding. The latest Olympic Truce resolution presented by the government of the United Kingdom

for London 2012 Olympic Games, was co-sponsored by a record 193 UN member States. “Sport is one of

those forces which can still offer real hope,” said Lord Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London Organising

Committee for the Games to the UN

General Assembly.

Besides the UN activities, other

initiatives promote the Olympic Truce

in the framework of the Games

themselves. It was in 1996 that the

Athens Bid Committee stated its

commitment to reviving the Olympic

Truce and promoting it to the world

through the Olympic Torch Relay.

Each host city has since encouraged

embracing the meaning and spirit of

the Olympic Truce in the planning

and staging of the Games. This later

became an obligation in the Host City

Contract. Torino 2006 Olympic Wall signing / © IOC


32

During the 2006 Turin Olympic Winter Games, athletes and officials showed support for the Olympic

Truce by signing one of the three walls situated in the three Olympic Villages.

In Beijing in 2008, the Peace and

Friendship Wall, a permanent

structure that forms part of the

Olympic Games legacy, was signed

by athletes, guests and officials

during a colorful ceremony in

support of the Olympic Truce ideal

throughout the Games.

Two years later, the Vancouver

Games were reported to be the first-

ever Olympic Games to be held on

indigenous people‟s land. Truce

projects were rooted in an open

invitation for people to “Make Your

Peace”, which asked individuals to

create everyday peace at home,

schools, work and in the community.

Projects included: delivering

Olympic Spirit Boxes filled with

hockey, football, lacrosse, baseball and basketball equipment to 20 Aboriginal communities in Northern

Canada; an Olympic Truce Youth Dialogue with Canada‟s Governor General Michaelle Jean; and an art

installation entitled “Room to Make your Peace”.

The Governor General of Canada, the patron of the Olympic Truce for Vancouver 2010, was a perfect

symbol of the Olympic Truce as she represented the diversity and richness of Canada‟s culture and

population.

Following Vancouver, LOCOG and the

UK government raised the bar even

higher in delivering Olympic Truce-

related activities. They promoted the

ideals of the Olympic Truce both

domestically and internationally. Among

their activities, the programme “Get Set

for the Olympic Truce encouraged young

people across the country to learn about

the history of the Olympic Truce, to

debate and discuss what the Olympic

Truce meant to their lives and to

undertake an activity to promote peace

within their school or community.

Materials were promoted to over 20,000

Governor General Michaelle Jean meeting representatives of the Four First

Nations at the launch of the Vancouver Olympic Truce Wall / © IOC

© LOCOG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torino_Olympics


33

schools registered with Get Set. The Olympic Truce Wall also formed the backdrop to the Team Welcome

Ceremonies; countries‟ representatives, special guests, athletes and local and international authorities

were invited to sign the Wall.

Moreover, through an active public diplomacy programme, the UK increased the international public‟s

interest and involvement in conflict-prevention and peace-building and raised the level of ambition for

future Olympic Truce activities. The UN Secretary-General, in the presence of the IOC, recognised the

UK‟s Olympic Truce efforts on the eve of the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Games, at a special

event organized by the Foreign Office. And efforts are continuing beyond the Games, in partnership with

the UN, the IOC and future host nations. In this regard, a day-long Olympic Truce legacy conference, co-

hosted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the IOC, took place in March 2013 with the aim of

sharing the UK‟s unique approach to the Olympic Truce - especially how the UK used the concept as part

of its international diplomacy work - and of exploring with future Games hosts their initial plans for

national and international Olympic Truce programmes.


34

5. Education and Culture

5.1 The Olympism platform

“Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind.

Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort,

the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.”

Olympic Charter (Fundamental Principles)

The leitmotiv of Olympism lies in safeguarding the needs of future generations through the ancient

practice of sport and engaging young people to develop a values-based, life-long learning perspective. This

has been carried out and continues to gain momentum through the linking of sport with education and

culture. In this regard, the role of the IOC was further clarified by the IOC 2000 Commission to the 110th

IOC Session at which education and culture was one of the eight topics studied. The adoption of an

activity-based format that takes into consideration regional needs was seen as the best way forward to

Culture and Education, Vancouver 2010 / © IOC


35

assist in enhancing the role and visibility of culture and education initiatives within the Olympic

Movement. Further direction was provided by the UN Millennium Development Goals, in particular

MDG Goal 2 - to achieve universal primary education - and the recent XIII Olympic Congress

(Copenhagen 2009), which resulted in 66 recommendations, of which six related to the culture and

education.

“I have the audacity to believe that people‟s everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and

culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.” Martin Luther King, Jr –1964

The alliance of sport, education and culture, with a view to creating a well-rounded formative process for

young people, is implemented through diverse educational and communication channels such as world

conferences, the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), the Cultural Olympiad, IOC art contests, the Olympic

Values Education Programme (OVEP) and Olympic Solidarity World Programmes. Guided by the IOC

Executive Board and the respective Commission, the mainstreaming of cultural and educational Olympic

activities is being effectuated as stated above through a number of advocacy and information-sharing

platforms for which the ownership by NOCs is instrumental. A graphic overview shows that 58% of NOCs

overall have an operational culture and Olympic education commission.

5.2 A global dialogue

A major tool for constructive dialogue and information sharing is the organisation of IOC world

conferences, which have grown from a one-directional experience to a collaborative, audience-centric

conference model. Delivered on a biennial basis and serving to ensure global scale participation, the

conferences are the cornerstone for developing IOC policy on culture and education in relation to sport

and its associated activities. They have provided a unique opportunity to assemble key stakeholders from

the world of sport, education, governments, non-governmental organisations, academia and the business

community to define the priority issues and the necessary pathways to achieve the set IOC objectives. In

recent years, the IOC Conferences on Sport, Culture and Education have been organised in partnership

70%

45%

68%

50%

63% 58%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Culture and Olympic Education

Africa America Asia Europe Oceania Grand Total

NOC Culture and Olympic Education Commissions per continent (2012 IOC Annual Survey, NOC Relations Department)


36

with global organisations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation

(UNESCO), which has served to increase the impact of these events. The most recent edition took place in

Amsterdam (2012), and showcased the power of youth and the concrete change that young people are

making in their own communities.

Building on previous Conference editions and with specific

reference to the Durban Declaration, “that an investment in

young people – using sport as a medium – is an investment in

national and community development”, the Amsterdam

Conference closed by issuing, among other things, a call to

include values-based education and physical education in school

curricula and to support the introduction and enhancement of

educational programmes for athletes aimed at optimising their

post-athletic careers.

The progress in involving young people, which is one of the key

objectives of the event, can be illustrated by the growing

allocation to them in the Conference programme. Starting with

Busan (2008), the Conference set a precedent in providing the

opportunity for young athletes to speak to a global audience on

their perspective and challenges faced in combining their sporting career with school education. The

subsequent two Conferences in Durban (2010) and Amsterdam (2012) built on this, and expanded the

approach to a youth caucus format where more than 12 young participants showed how the YOG product

actively functioned as a key platform for youth education, and led to the Conference in Amsterdam (2012),

where an inter-organisational assembly of YOG participants and other young leaders focused on the

empowerment of young people in reference to policy, practice and potential of sport and Olympism as

they relate to culture and education.

5.3 The blending of sport, culture and education

The vision of the YOG was to inspire young people around the world to participate in sport, and adopt and

live by the Olympic values. In the successful wake of Singapore (2010) and Innsbruck (2012), the

involvement of International Organisations (IOs) in the Global Issues Booth activities proved to be an

innovative element with the educational objectives of enabling athletes to identify the principal social

issues facing the world today; develop a better understanding of these issues; and focus on how young

athletes can contribute to real solutions in their own communities.

Through walk-in activities and issue-related workshops, the Global Issues Booths focused on delivering

learning objectives to: raise awareness of the value of active citizenship; to communicate through story-

telling and games the values of excellence, respect and fair play in sport; to come into contact with the

intellectual expression of the Olympic Movement; to take away an understanding of priority issues

related to the Convention on Rights of the Child; promote positive attitudes toward vulnerable migrants

and marginalised groups; activate engagement through volunteerism; and instil commitment to

environmental stewardship in a fun and interactive way.


37

The participation of IOs within the CEP framework served to add specialisation and expertise from the

field and - just as International Federations (IFs) present in-depth knowledge of the various sports

disciplines - the IOs provide a wealth of expertise in terms of the global priority issues and bring added

value with their well-developed educational programmes and content knowledge. This type of multi-

dimensional partnership is essential in broadening the scope of an athlete‟s mindset. Shortlisted IOs

included the International Fair Play Committee (IFPC), International Olympic Academy (IOA),

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), The Joint United Nations

Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations

Children‟s Fund (UNICEF) and Word Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The Nanjing 2014 YOG will follow a

similar partnership format.

The addition of this hybrid sporting event has been shown to be a stepping stone to the Olympic Games

for young athletes and further provides the chance to showcase the unique DNA of the Olympic

Movement as more than a branch of the international sports industry but a social movement through

intercultural education.

5.4 The communication of cultural capital

The richness of the Olympic Movement is brought to light not only in the staging of the Olympic Games,

but also in the cultural and artistic diversity epitomised among the five continents. In the form of the

Cultural Olympiad programme, the art and culture of a host city, as well as from a host nation perspective,

are celebrated on the global stage with the aim of rendering a meaningful experience through the

reinforcement of cultural values.

The evolution of a four-year long cultural programme culminating in an Arts Festival in conjunction with

the Games was initiated in 1992 during the Barcelona Games, and this led the charge for adapting the

programme duration and the type of activities that were included. In the various editions since then, the

cultural component has been instrumental in fostering cultural awareness and targeting the eyes of the

world on local creativity. In the case of Sydney, the cultural component highlighted the diverse Australian

cultural communities and paid close attention to its Aboriginal peoples.

In Turin, the culminating effect of the Cultural Olympiad was visible through the festive atmosphere

during the Games, where creative inspiration was linked with the intangible benefit of a fun environment.

The organisers of the Beijing Olympic Games positioned the annual festivals as ceremonial celebrations in

the lead-up to showcase their preparations for the Olympic Games alongside giant-scale complementary

cultural events. The festival format of Vancouver 2010 gave Canada‟s indigenous peoples international

exposure never before experienced, through the performing native arts and cultural display.

London 2012 marked a new era in the delivery of the Cultural Olympiad, with its unprecedented

management framework, investment of public stakeholders and innovative branding through the London

2012 Inspire mark. The idea of nation-wide programming - with strong regional involvement and

emphasis on young people as creators and users of programme activities through present-day

technological tools - aimed to make the cultural narrative „the most accessible, youth oriented, innovative

and outreaching Olympic cultural programme in history”.

One hundred years of Olympic culture and arts programming has played a growing role in defining and

contributing to the IOC‟s commitment to presenting cultural and artistic activity alongside sport.


38

Art competitions were held as from 1912

(Stockholm) during the period of the

Olympic Games to the London Games in

1948. The winners of the competitions

were awarded gold, silver and bronze

medals, similar to the winners of the

sporting competitions. These artistic

events were positioned to interconnect the

competitive side of sports with artistic

endeavour. To this end, and with the

concept of blending sport with culture, the

IOC re-launched the idea and established

various contests to perpetuate this

association on a national level.

Organised on a biennial or quadrennial

basis, IOC artistic competitions included:

Sport and Literature, launched in 2001 to

support children‟s literacy and knowledge

of Olympism; Sport and Photography, organised in 2007 in which young photographers saw their work

for the first time being exhibited; Sport and Singing, launched in 2007; and Sport and Art, launched in

2004, fostering an active synergy between the sporting world and artistic institutions. In Beijing, winning

works were included in the Olympex 2008 Expo where the event often opened its doors to more than

40,000 visitors. In London, during the 4th edition of this competition, more than 60 artists from over 50

countries submitted candidatures under the 2012 theme of: Sport and the Olympic values of excellence,

friendship and respect. All winning works of the national phase were exhibited at the House of

International Sport in Lausanne, and the 16 winning works, including the runner-ups, were exhibited at

the Guildhall Art Gallery against the backdrop of the excavated ruins of London‟s Roman Amphitheatre.

The Olympiart Award was the first Commission contest, launched in 1991, and aimed at strengthening the

link between the arts and the celebration of the Olympiad. Art forms such as painting, architecture and

music have been honoured with the awardees of Hans Erni, Pedro Ramirez Vázquez, Mikis Theodorakis,

Huang Yongyu; and in 2012, the Award was presented to Danny Boyle during the Opening Ceremony of

the Amsterdam World Conference. The continuing communication between the world of sport and the

world of art serves to remind the Olympic Movement of the place art has in its midst.

5.5 A 365-day model

A spearhead project within the framework of the IOC global Youth Strategy, OVEP has shown itself to be a

key instrument in addressing the issue of how the integration of sports activities can make learning more

appealing and increase motivation among young people. As stated by the IOC President, “sport is a

powerful tool for reaching out to today‟s youth on all continents and for educating them early on about

healthy and responsible behaviours.”

IOC Sport and Art Exhibition, London 2012 / © IOC


39

Since its creation in 2005, OVEP has used sport for values-based teaching and mainstreaming education

on the field of play, in the classroom and in life. The development of the “Teaching Values: An Olympic

Education Toolkit” formed the basis of a life-skills training model and referential resource for promoting

the educational values of Olympism. During the project pilot phase, three continents – Africa, Asia and

Oceania – featured prominently as having been the successful test beds for the programme. From the

period of 2008 to 2010, 10 Train the Trainer workshops were organised in the above continents,

encompassing the initial participation of around 45 countries. Today, more than 110 countries have been

involved in the programme, and the numbers are increasing vis-à-vis the cascade effect of the training

model making the actual numbers even higher.

Through the relay of existing networks and joint collaboration, OVEP continues to gain momentum and

provide enrichment to curricula in formal and informal settings. This has been achieved through inclusion

in and channels of distribution such as:

the educational programmes developed and implemented by Organising Committees of the Olympic

Games, wherein Olympic education activities touched 400,000 schools with a reach of 400 million during

Beijing 2008; Vancouver 2010 launched an online learning environment where 2,100 British Columbia

schools had access to the resource manual, and 200,000 resource hits on the Vancouver website platform

were tracked; London 2012 “Get Set” programme, with its national participation of 20,457 UK schools

and the spillover of its international segment. As well as International Inspiration, the flagship sports

legacy programme of London 2012, through its youth sport leadership intervention, saw 40,300 Young

Sports Leaders with a total outreach of +800,000 pupils delivering the values-based module;

100 m graffiti wall, OVEP Workshop, Amman, Jordan / © NOC of Jordan


40

UNESCO, through its Associated Schools Network consisting of 9,000 schools, and the implementation of

a sub-regional OVEP workshop in 2010 for six Caribbean countries as the starting point;

the educational programmes implemented through the Olympic family network, such as the International

Olympic Academy and its annual international sessions and seminars; National Olympic Academies and

their building of good practices; the International Pierre de Coubertin Committee, with its strong Olympic

education focus through the Coubertin Schools Network and the delivery of a biennial youth forum; the

International Fair Play Committee, which serves to foster sportsmanship in international competition by

fighting chauvinism and violence in sport and recognising through its annual Fair Play Awards

honourable acts in sport; the OlympAfrica Foundation, which has the set objective to promote in all

African countries the implementation of a network of Olympism spreading centres wherein OVEP is

incorporated in the scope of the organisation‟s activities; the Sport for All community-oriented Olympic

Youth Development Centre in Zambia, through its education sessions, has incorporated training for OVEP

young leaders.

NOC targeted activities catering to

grass roots deployment continue to

grow as regionalised modes of

delivery are being activated on the

ground through initiatives such as

the peer-to-peer format started in

Oceania by the Federated States of

Micronesia which is now spilling

outward to surrounding islands;

the joint collaboration of the New

Zealand Olympic Committee and

the National Academy with the

Ministry of Education, which has

resulted in the inclusion of

Olympic education as a classroom-

based activity in the physical

education training curriculum; a

unified and coordinated approach

through the development of a replicable OVEP delivery model by the NOC of Zimbabwe in collaboration

with its National Olympic Academy; the use of current social media tools by the NOC of Jordan to engage

the region and focus on training university level educators with the hope of achieving continued

integration of OVEP into the national university curriculum; the delivery of a Spanish version of the

Toolkit resource by the NOC of Spain, making it accessible to Spanish-speaking countries through its web-

based platform; the NOC of Brazil, with its potential reach of 65 million people under 18, including 23

million students with a plethora of school-related activities and the provision of the OVEP toolkit in

Portuguese.

Olympic Solidarity‟s World Programmes dedicated to disseminating Olympic values are a longstanding

relationship and form a key partnership within the IOC framework. The programmes assist NOCs in their

efforts to promote Olympism and Olympic values at grassroots level. NOCs have continued to show

significant interest in the various opportunities made available through the OS funding stream, notably in

OVEP module in Young Sports Leaders (YSL) Programme

© International Inspiration/UK Sport


41

terms of targeting youth and collaborating with national educational bodies. OS reported to the

Commission during the 2012 annual meeting that, since the beginning of the 2009 quadrennial, 177

initiatives have been or are being implemented by 86 countries; representing more than 40% of all NOCs.

OS indicated a 30% increase with respect to the total number of 144 projects financed in the quadrennial

period of 2005-2008. Approximately 50% of the projects financed by OS focus specifically on the targeted

youth demographic via school programmes, which includes implementation of OVEP at a national level,

and contest-related activities delivered in schools/clubs.

Some interesting facts and figures obtained through an IOC annual survey show that, out of the 107 NOCs

that responded to the questionnaire, 79% of NOCs promote Olympism through dedicated programmes;

61% have programmes targeting schools; and 85% of would like to continue to learn more about the IOC‟s

Olympic Values Education Programme.

The OVEP project has demonstrated that this programme can be utilised as a 365-day tool for Olympism

in action and, through its values-based approach, help to support the building of skill sets for life.

Continuing improvement and additions to the resource materials available are required as the project

moves forward. This will be realised through the development of a second edition of the OVEP Toolkit and

subsequent accompanying teaching resources. Furthermore, optimising delivery structures, such as NOCs

taking active ownership of the project and reliable monitoring and surveillance systems, is essential for

sustainable roll-out of the project.

5.7 The road ahead

The evolution of sport has been accompanied by socio-cultural progress, given the value of sport in

relation to education, physical activity and health. The IOC has shown that the concept of using sport as a

vehicle to deliver messages in relation to global education can be highly effective among young people.

Through the solid and continuous delivery of the diverse initiatives, it has attempted to contribute to the

framework of the international agenda and grassroots sports development.

The alignment of OVEP with the broader IOC Youth Strategy, which is planned for OVEP Phase II, will

serve to further strengthen the effectiveness of the project. Physical literacy and learning through

movement will contribute to the development of moral and intellectual learning.


42

6. Gender Equality

6.1 The IOC and gender equality policy

Sport provides a sphere in which women

can renegotiate concepts of femininity and

masculinity, challenge stereotypes which

label women as weak and inferior, and

demonstrate to their communities what

they are capable of achieving. Sport builds

confidence and decision-making skills. It

encourages self-discipline and provides a

sense of accomplishment. As such,

promoting girls and women‟s involvement

in sport is an important tool in gender

equality and women‟s empowerment and,

more broadly, in development and social

change.

Access to sport and physical activity is

fully part of international conventions and

documents that have been adopted by the United Nations and other institutions, such as the Beijing

Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women

(CEDAW). The IOC was founded more than a century ago to harness the power of sport at the service of

humanity. At that time, it had little interest in women‟s participation. However, times have changed and

the IOC has played an important role in establishing a positive trend to enhance women‟s participation in

sport, especially in the last 20 years taking action in the field of advocacy, especially among the NOCs and

IFs.

In 1995 that the IOC decided to create a Women and Sport Working Group, as recommended by the Study

Commission of the 1994 Centennial Olympic Congress. The Working Group, which became a fully pledged

commission in 2004, was tasked with advising the IOC President and the Executive Board on suitable

policies to be implemented in this field. At that time, the Working Group developed a strategy for

ensuring that girls and women are given equal opportunities to engage in sport and physical education

throughout their life. That strategy included work in three areas: the Olympic Games programme; the

promotion of women sports leaders; and a strong IOC advocacy campaign to place equality higher on

sporting agendas.

The Olympic Games have provided a global stage for women athletes to defy gender stereotypes since

1900, long before women obtained the right to vote in most countries. Women Olympians serve as

powerful role models for young girls around the world, even girls who do not intend to pursue a career in

sport. Some women athletes return from the Games as national heroes in countries that rarely celebrate

© IOC


43

the achievements of women. Women Olympians prove that girls can overcome societal expectations and

achieve their dreams in spite of obstacles.

6.2 Coming a long way The process of including women in the Olympic Games

of the modern era has been very long. Indeed, the

Olympic Games of antiquity were open only to men

who served a very special position in society because of

the manly roles they played in life that emphasised

their courage and physical strength, while women were

valued for the quality of children they produced. This

belief had been cultivated throughout the centuries and

still existed when the Olympic Games were revived by

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founding father of the

International Olympic Committee. Several writers

quoted him as a traditionalist, a man of his social

origins and of his time, definitely opposed to women‟s

participation in public sport and in the Olympic Games.

The first Games of 1896 in Athens, which took place in

difficult circumstances while the Greek people were going through a series of political unrest, were open

to men only. It was in 1900, for the second edition of the Games, that women were allowed to participate.

The numbers were certainly low, just 22 (2%) participants out of a total of 997 athletes competing in just

five sports: seven in tennis, one in sailing, three in croquet, one in equestrian and 10 in golf.

© IOC

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

241

997 651

2008 2407 2626

3089 2883

1332

3963 4104

4955

3314

5338 5151

5516

7134

6084

5179

6829

8391

9356

10318 10651

10625 10947

10568

0 22 6 37 48 65 135 277 126 331 390 519

376 611 678 781 1059 1260 1115

1566

2194 2704

3512 4069 4329 4639 4676

Total Athletes Total Womens

Olympiads

Evolution of women's participation in the Games of the Olympiad


44

6.3 Key factor to success

The IOC‟s policy on women in sport has focused on

increasing opportunities for female athletes to compete in

the Olympic Games and ensuring that the women's sports

programme at the Olympic Games is expanded. Thus,

women's participation in the Games has grown steadily;

particularly since the IOC decided, in 1991, that any new

sport on the Olympic programme should have both men

and women‟s events.

The most recent Olympic Games, in London last year,

were a significant milestone towards the goal of gender

equality, with a record 44% participants being female.

With the inclusion of women‟s boxing, women competed

in every Olympic sport on the Olympic programme for

the first time. Also in London, women outnumbered men

on 35 NOC teams, including some of the largest delegations. With the inclusion of women on teams from

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei Darussalam, now every NOC has sent women to the Games.

MAIN FIGURES ON WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN THE GAMES

No. of Sports

No. of NOCs

No. of Participants

No. of Sports

No. of NOCs

No. of Participants Year Year

1896 - - - - - - 1972 8 3 65 - 1058 206

1900 2 - 5 - 22 - 1976 11 3 66 30 1247 231

1904 1 - 1 - 6 - 1980 12 3 54 31 1125 233

1908 2 - 4 - 36 - 1984 14 3 94 35 1567 274

1912 2 - 11 - 57 - 1988 17 3 117 39 2186 313

1920 2 - 13 - 77 - 1992 19 4 136 44 2708 488

1924 3 1 20 7 136 13 1994 - 4 - 44 - 523

1928 4 1 25 10 290 26 1996 21 - 169 - 3626 -

1932 3 1 18 7 127 21 1998 - 6 - 54 - 788

1936 4 2 26 15 328 80 2000 25 - 199 - 4069 -

1948 5 2 33 12 385 77 2002 - 7 - 77 - 886

1952 6 2 41 17 518 109 2004 26 - 201 - 4306 -

1956 6 2 39 18 384 132 2006 - 7 - 80 - 960

1960 6 2 45 22 610 143 2008 26 - 203 - 4637 -

1964 7 3 53 28 683 200 2010 - 7 - 82 - 1044

1968 7 3 54 29 781 211 2012 26 204 4’676

Summer Games

Winter Games

© IOC


45

6.4 Women leaders

Although the situation is improving on the field of play

and in terms of access to sporting and recreational

activities, the gap is still very wide in leadership and

decision-making roles. In sports organisations, there

remain obstacles that hinder access to positions of

responsibility and influence. In 1996, the IOC set out to

encourage NOCs, IFs, and sports bodies belonging to the

Olympic Movement to establish as a goal that at least

20% of the positions in all their decision-making

structures (in particular the executive and legislative

bodies) be held by women. The policy has largely been

successful, thanks to the various programmes that have been put in place to support women with further

knowledge of issues to build on their existing capacity, enhance the understanding of NOCs in general and

increase the buy-in by the IFs. As a result, the number of female executive board members being

presidents, vice-presidents and secretaries general in NOCs is the highest ever.

The first step to include women in the IOC membership was taken in 1981 in Baden-Baden, when Flor

Isava-Fonseca, the Venezuelan former Olympic equestrian specialist, and Pirjo Haeggman the Finnish

Olympian in Athletics were elected as the first women IOC members. Since then, many women have been

elected as IOC members. There are currently 20 women (20%) members out of 100 active members.

Another four are honorary members. Three women serve as IOC Executive Board members: Nawal El

Moutawakel, Gunilla Lindberg and Claudia Bokel, the first time in the history of the IOC that three

women have served on the IOC Executive Board at the same time. Ever since the 1996 Games when

participating athletes were given the opportunity to elect their own peers to represent them in the IOC,

Olympic athletes have consistently nominated both men and women, in equal numbers.

Women are increasingly taking leading roles within NOCs, albeit at a slower pace than female athletes are

being accommodated on the competition field. By the time of compiling this report, 11 NOCs were headed

by female presidents. A further 23 females served as secretaries general and several more as vice-

presidents, deputy secretaries general, treasurers and deputy treasurers in the executive committees of

the 204 NOCs.

20 Female IOC Members

HSH Princess Nora of Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein) Rita Subowo (Indonesia)

Anita L. DeFrantz (USA) Claudia Bokel (Germany)

HRH the Princess Royal (Great-Britain) Yumilka Ruiz Luaces (Cuba)

Gunilla Lindberg (Sweden) Lydia Nsekera (Burundi)

Irena Szewinska (Poland) Maria de la Soledad Casado Estupiñan (Spain)

Nawal El Moutawake (Morocco) Yang Yang (China)

Nicole Hoevertsz (Aruba) Angela Ruggiero (USA)

Beatrice Allen (Gambia) Barbara Kendall (New Zealand)

Rebecca Scott (Canada) Aicha Garard Ali (Djibouti)

HRH Princess Haya bint Al-Hussein (UAE) Lingwei Li (China)

Peru NOC Executive Board Members / © IOC


46

4 Female Honorary Members

Dame Mary Alison Glen-Haig (Great Britain)

Flor Isava Fonseca (Venezuela)

HRH the Infanta Doña Pilar de Borbón (Spain)

Manuela Di Centa (Italy)

Female NOC Presidents and Secretaries Generals

AFRICA

Presidents Secretaries General

Aicha Garad Pertus – Djibouti Helene Mpinganjira – Malawi

Agnes Tjongarero – Namibia Hezel Kennedy – Zambia

Matlohang Moiloa-Ramoqopo – Lesotho Betelhem Mekonnen – Ethiopia

Miriam Moyo – Zambia Muriel Hofer – Swaziland

AMERICAS


Nicole Hoevertsz – Aruba

Judith Simons, JP – Bermuda Veda Bruno-Victor - Grenada

Sarah Rosario – Puerto Rico Silvia González – Costa Rica

Carlena Sampson de Díaz - El Salvador

Lyn Reid – US Virgin Islands

ASIA


Rita Subowo – Indonesia Nour El-Houda Karfoul – Syria

Lana Al-Jahgbeer - Jordan

EUROPE


Stefka Kostadinova – Bulgaria Gunilla Lindberg – Sweden

Daina Gudzineviciute - Lithuania Marlse Pauly – Luxemburg

Yvette Lambin – Monaco

Nese Gundogan- Turkey

Liney Gakkdivsdittir – Iceland

Cristina Vasilianov - Moldova

Rhizelaine Diouri-Joksimovic – Bosnia-Herzegovina

OCEANIA


Lady Joyce Robyn Kaho Tu‟Ivakano – Tonga Bakai Temengil – Palau

Ese Apinelu - Tuvalu Rosaline Blake B.E.M – Cook Islands

Kereyn Smith - New Zealand

Lorraine Mar – Fiji

Auvita Rapilla – Papua New Guinea


47

Female IF Presidents and Secretaries General

Summer Olympic IFs

HRH Princess Haya Al Hussein President, FEI

Marisol Casado President, ITU

Yuki Shigeno Secretary General, IGF

Loreen Barnett Secretary General, ITU

Shiny Fang Secretary General, UIPM

Winter Olympic IFs

Kate Caithness President, WCF

Sarah Lewis Secretary General, FIS

Nicole Resch Secretary General, IBU

Heike Grosswang Secretary General, FIBT

Recognised IFs

Jessie Phua President, FIQ

Molly Rhone President, IFNA

Régine Vandekerckhove Secretary General, UIM

Urvasi Naidoo Secretary General/CEO, IFNA

Beng Choo Low Secretary General, ISF

Gillian Hill Secretary General, IWWF

Naidoo Urvasi Secretary General, INF

Viven Lau Secretary General, FIQ

6.5 Gender mainstreaming programmes

Although women are increasingly taking leading roles within the Olympic Movement, it is undeniable that

barriers preventing women from reaching positions of responsibility still exist, be it in the Olympic

Movement, international organisations, governments or parliaments. The IOC has been working tirelessly

over the last decades to raise awareness of the fundamental principle of equal opportunity. The IOC‟s

activities span from technical and financial assistance through the 204 NOCs for community-based

programmes for the empowerment of women and girls through sport, provision of sport and recreation

facilities, to skills development training programmes on management and leadership for women.

It has established a programme of regional and continental seminars/training and special

assistance for female administrators, coaches, technical officials and journalists in the national and

international sports movement. As such, the IOC aims to ensure that female representation within the

Olympic Movement becomes a reality.

The first series of seminars, which were held on five continents over 10 years and which aimed to give

greater visibility to women and sports issues and to encourage the NOCs to do more work in this area,

have proved to be one of the most effective tools to tackle the underrepresentation of women in the

Olympic Movement. These seminars were organised in 18 countries in the five continents.


48

These seminars have evolved over the

years, from forums which provided

participants with opportunities to

discuss policies, exchange ideas and

network, to fully fledged capacity-

building courses led by teams of

experts. Training sessions have been

run in all five continents since 2006

and are due to continue as

recommended by the last Conference.

The programme of these training

sessions includes:

challenges and solutions in

leadership;

networking;

how to successfully run a campaign and gain support;

principle of negotiations;

the art of persuasion, how to increase buy-in and reduce resistance in your communication;

successful fundraising efforts;

mentoring sessions; and

management tools.

As a result, hundreds of these women were trained in five continents,

and the messages, lessons and exchange of ideas in those valuable

arenas and times were useful and productive. They established contact

that they keep and foster in connections worldwide. More women are

now involved in the Olympic Movement every year. More women have

learnt to inspire and mentor other women and girls; and not only in

sports management and leadership, but also in the practice of sport and

on how to breathe life into the Olympic values.

In addition to the training programme, the IOC is also actively engaged

with the Olympic Solidarity in promoting sport for girls and women at

grassroots level. Girls do not have to become Olympic athletes to

experience the empowering benefits of sport. A special “women and

sport” programme has been created to help NOCs in developing

countries to implement other types of projects, including, for example,

gender equality activities targeting communication campaigns, national

research programmes, national seminars and participation in meetings.

Women and Sport Training, Mexico 2012 /© Fabien Smadja

© IOC


49

6.6 World conferences

Held every four years, the aim of the IOC

World Conference on Women and Sport is to

assess the progress made in advancing the

cause of gender equality within the Olympic

Movement and to define future priority

actions to improve and increase the

involvement of girls and women in support of

the international agenda on gender equality.

The conferences continuously strive to identify

impediments to women‟s participation in

sport and the barriers to their progress.

Moreover, these conferences have openly

addressed issues related to political, religious

and cultural factors which women say are

some of the constraints to their free

involvement in sport.

The last Conference, which took place in Los Angeles in February 2012 under the theme “Stronger

Together, the Future of Sport”, attracted more than 700 delegates from 121 countries. The theme

recognised that, in order to continue these extraordinary achievements and to move to the next level,

women and men will need to work together to break down barriers and overcome obstacles to further

progress. Only through collaboration and partnership will full equality be reached.

The Conference also provided an opportunity to measure the progress made in terms of equality and

identify further action that has to be undertaken in the near future. For the sporting movement, the short-

term goal, which will also have long-term repercussions, is to ensure that the next elections in the

Olympic Movement bring in more women.

The immediate and future action will be:

keep the issue of gender equality high on the agenda of conferences and other meetings;

enhance networking and cooperation with other organisations promoting gender equality;

provide training and support for women considering standing for elections;

continue the existing training programmes for women (leadership, management and media);

help National Olympic Committees to adopt a long-term strategy on women and sport;

establish key performance indicators which will help the Olympic Movement to monitor progress;

establish a database of best practices and success stories to be shared with the sports movement;

and

in cooperation with the media, ensure equal coverage of women‟s events and promote female role

models.

5th IOC Women & Sport World Conference, Los Angeles 2012

© IOC


50

6.7 IOC Women and Sport Awards

Created in 2000, the IOC Women and Sport

Awards represent a real opportunity to

leverage the recognition of gender equality

promotion in sport on each continent.

Each year, six trophies are offered, one per

continent, and one at world level, to a

woman or a man, or an

institution/organisation in recognition of

their outstanding contribution to develop,

encourage and strengthen the participation

of women and girls in physical and sports

activities. Exemplary actions in coaching, in

administrative and leadership sport

structures, and the promotion of women‟s

sport in the media and of women journalists

are a part of the award criteria

6.8 The way forward – building on partnerships

The IOC President has said, “It is time to build on the progress we have made through our successful

collaborations with the United Nations and other allies by strengthening and expanding those

partnerships”. Today‟s reality is that the world of sport, like many other sectors of society, is far from

gender balanced. There is tremendous potential for cooperation, and consequently for joint and stronger

actions for women‟s advancement.

The IOC policy for women‟s empowerment through sport will continue to be developed and implemented

through numerous partnerships with sports organisations, UN agencies, NGOs and other members of civil

society so as to join efforts to promote women‟s participation in sport and physical activity and the

empowerment of women and girls through sport, in a framework of gender equality and sustainable

development in line with the Millennium Development Goals.

The issue of gender equality and women‟s empowerment will remain a permanent concern to the IOC and

will continue to play its role by continuing to provide more opportunities for girls and women in and

through sport, as well as to pursue fruitful partnerships with all parties involved; in particular the UN

System, Member States, NGOs and the sporting movement.

2012 Women and Sport Awards Winners / © IOC


51

7. Environmental Sustainability

7.1 IOC heeding the clarion call

“Satisfying the needs of the present generation without compromising the chance for future generations to satisfy

theirs.” Our Common Future, The Brundtland Commission Report, 1987

The Centennial Olympic Congress (Paris, 1994), referred to

as the Congress of Unity, recognised the importance of the

environment and sustainable development. This led to the

following amendment to the Olympic Charter to strengthen

the inclusion of environmental principles and provide for a

sustainable development framework within the mission and

role of the IOC: “to encourage and support a responsible

concern for environmental issues, to promote sustainable

development in sport and to require that the Olympic Games

are held accordingly”.

The IOC has acknowledged its particular responsibility in

terms of promoting sustainable development, and underlines

the importance of (i) protecting the natural resource base

and the environment, and (ii) putting in place economic and

social well-being measures that do not impinge on the

broader vision of sustainable development. The human

element of intergenerational solidarity is crucial to take into

account the impact on the opportunities for future

generations.

In keeping with the IOC objectives of establishing an

awareness-raising process and providing basic referential

tools under the tutelage of a broad-based educational

campaign, a number of publications have been developed

and made available to the sporting public. This constituted

the creation of resources advocating environmentally sound practices and turning environmental

challenges into new opportunities for the sporting community. The scope of information was directed at

large and developed entities, small-scale organisations, and individuals or specific target groups. Transfer

of acquired knowledge and information sharing through IOC publications included:

Manual on Sport and the Environment (1997) – demonstrated the links between sport and

the environment and made practical suggestions for improving sport‟s interaction with the

environment.

Olympic Movement’s Agenda 21: Sport for Sustainable Development (1999) – inspired

by the UN Agenda 21 adopted in 1992, this instrumental policy document acted as a blueprint for

a balanced and integrated approach to environmental and development issues moving into the

21st century. In addition, it was recognised that in order to train and perform at their optimum,

athletes needed a healthy environment.

Exhibition of environmental sustainability

© Vancouver 2010


52

Be a Champion for the Environment (2000/2001) – two complementary booklets

developed for and directed at the Olympic family audience and athletes, with a fun and

graphically creative format on the benefit of environmental stewardship as it relates to top

performance and economic welfare.

Sport, Environment and Sustainable Development Guide (2005) – developed in

collaboration with 35 Olympic IFs with the view to providing an action-point systematic

framework for organising a sports event incorporating sustainability principles.

and most recently, in the lead-up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD),

Rio +20, the report on “Sustainability through Sport: Implementing the Olympic

Movement’s Agenda 21” (2012) – which showcased the Olympic Movement‟s commitment

through steps taken and actions implemented under the Agenda 21 policy umbrella of sustainable

development. The publication documents how sport has enforced over a 20 year span (1992-

2012) its potential to be a catalyst for creating more sustainable, healthy urban and non-urban

environments and economies.

In addition, the IOC and the sporting movement as a whole have continued to build on cornerstone

actions in line with the philosophy of preserving precious resources by embedding sustainability and

legacy within the entire lifecycle of the Olympic Games project. From the applicant bid city phase to the

actual staging and delivery of the Games, the combined application of sustainability management systems

(e.g. Olympic Games Impact Study), credible reporting tools (e.g. Global Reporting Initiative) and

educational services (e.g. Olympic Games Knowledge Management) serve to lay the ground for a host city

to organise the Games with minimal impact on natural resources and ecosystems. As stated by the IOC

President, “Every city that hosts the Olympic Games becomes a temporary steward of the Olympic

Movement. This is a great responsibility and also a great opportunity, each creating a unique set of

environmental, social and economic legacies that can change a community, a region, and a nation

forever”.

The recent recognition of the legacy of bid cities, irrespective of the outcome of their bid, was underlined

during the “Bidding for the Games” seminar, held in Lausanne in 2012, and illustrated through a case

study format of the transformative legacy of aspiring host cities in developing facilities and infrastructure

with lasting value for the city.

7.2 Harnessing inspiration

The Olympic Movement‟s commitment to supporting the

global agenda on sustainability can be further traced to

the organisation of its biennial world conferences, which

provide a basis to exchange knowledge, and encourage

cooperation in furthering the development of

environmental policies for sport. The effectiveness of the

outcomes of the respective Conferences is exemplified by

the fact that the Olympic Movement continues to be

guided by steps set out during past conferences such as

the 5th IOC World Conference on Sport and the

Environment (Turin, 2003) wherein the conduct of Conference logo, Doha 2011 / © NOC of Qatar


53

sport and leisure activities was delineated in the final outcome document in eight action steps.

Furthermore, the 2011 Conference emphasised the important role of young people in the promotion of

environmentally sound development. The Doha Declaration recommended that the IOC and NOCs

“develop and support educational programmes for young people on the environment and sustainable

development”, and that NOCs “consider promoting and supporting initiatives that engage young people,

particularly in under-privileged communities, in sustainable development activities”. The platform of the

upcoming 10th edition of the Conference, to be held in Sochi, Russia, will focus on outcomes of the recent

Earth Summit, Rio +20 document, “The Future We Want”, and combine an introspective and outward

look on the social, economic and environmental legacies of major sporting events.

In conjunction with the Conference, the inaugural IOC Sport and Environment Award, which recognises

outstanding contributions to promoting a healthy environment and advocacy of sustainability principles

in various categories, is another example of action taken to drive environmental and sustainability

projects at a community level. The 3rd edition of the Award has been launched, and the winners will be

announced during the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi Conference on 30 October 2013.

7.3 A communicative synergy through regional seminars

Under the precept, “Think globally, Act locally”, the IOC organises continental and regional seminars to

further the policy of using sport as a vehicle for sustainable development. In collaboration with Olympic

Solidarity World Programmes and the IOC‟s sustainability partner, the United Nations Environment

Programme (UNEP), specific issues related to individual regions are addressed. Participants discover how

sport can support national environmental institutions and their governments; exchange ideas and share

experiences on initiatives implemented by NOCs and their national Sport and Environment Commissions;

identify major issues to be resolved; and renew commitment on relevant measures and actions to

implement at a national level. Herein Continental Associations can be called upon to take the charge of

securing environmental stewardship within their respective regions.

For example, the 2012 seminar hosted by the NOC of Poland assembled 39 countries out of the 49

European NOCs. The Wroclaw Declaration, “Using Sport to Leverage Action for Sustainability”, a joint

commitment of the participatory delegates, agreed to strengthen the role of European NOCs in enhancing

environmental governance, put in place policies as per the Olympic Congress recommendations

(Copenhagen, 2009), and accelerate international level engagement through partnership with the regional

UNEP branch. This commitment has been translated into an action plan to establish a continental Sport

and Environment Commission led by the NOC of Poland to ensure proper and effective follow-up.

Similar results were also obtained during the continental seminar in Apia, Samoa, where the issue and

challenges faced by Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) were tabled. In addition, at the 2010 Nairobi

seminar, representatives of the African NOCs agreed that the new architecture for African sport -

proposed by the Association for National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) - would include the

environment and sustainable management among the priorities for its development programme.

The platform of the seminars has seen movement from awareness-raising campaigns to an opportunity to

deliver introductory training on the use of sustainability tools, such as the Sustainable Sport and Event

Toolkit (SSET), and the recently released international standard ISO 20121, specifically created to support

the event industry.


54

25%

40%

32%

41% 38%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Africa America Asia Europe Oceania

Implementation of the Olympic Movement's Agenda 21

0

20

40

Africa Asia

Americas Europe

Oceania

Africa 35

Asia 35 Americas

32 Europe

31

Oceania 14

NOC participation to seminars

The figure below (left) shows the number of NOCs that have participated in this activity framework since

the onset of the programme. The second figure (right) shows, as a result of the IOC 2012 annual survey,

the percentage of NOCs that have implemented Agenda 21, showing that much remains to be achieved in

this domain.

7.4 Partner engagement on sustainability

Over the years, the IOC has increasingly involved or sought collaboration with global entities with the

target of using sport to assist sustainable development. In the same year that the IOC made the

environment the third pillar of the Games organisational framework, it signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) with UNEP. This led to what has become good practice in that, since this time, the

majority of OCOGs have partnered with UNEP in order to enhance environmental performance and boost

public interest, so that environmental measures

and concerns were not an afterthought, but

rather an integral part of the sporting event

from the start.

In 2007, the IOC received the UNEP Champions

of the Earth “Special Prize” for advancing the

sport and environment agenda by providing

greater resources to sustainable development

and for introducing stringent environmental

requirements for cities bidding to host Olympic

Games. The strengthening and upgrading of

UNEP, as included in the 2012 Earth Summit

outcome document, as the environmental

programme of the UN system, bodes well for the

IOC-UNEP joint partnership as a way and

means of continued collaboration.

RIO +20 Message Wall, 2012 Innsbrück Youth Olympic Games

/ © UNEP


55

Further partnerships with UN partners such as UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN-Habitat, the

World Health Organisation (WHO), International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UNESCO have also led

to furthering actions in this sector and finding intelligent ways of recalibrating sustainable development.

In this regard, support from the business community, in the form of the IOC sponsorship programme, has

done much to substantiate the IOC‟s mission to bring social change through sport and regulate

environmental, social and governance footprints.

Partner initiatives have taken to heart ways of integrating sustainability on and off the field of play. For

example, tackling the concern about obesity by spreading information on nutrition and well-being;

embracing the concept of reduce, reuse and recycle across all business activities and the lifecycle of

products; establishing educational initiatives to increase the employability of young people through

training and higher education; the development and accessibility of innovative energy solutions for

individual and communities; connecting science and the needs of its inhabitants by increasing agricultural

productivity and advocacy campaigns through the media of film for responsible stewardship of the Earth‟s

oceans.

7.5 Going the extra mile

“Don‟t be daunted by how much there is to do. Just do what you can. If we all did that, it will make a huge

difference”. Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Prize Winner

The reach and appeal of sport can help to

advance and reinforce the global sustainability

agenda. Due to the inherent nature of its core

business and accompanying values, the Olympic

Movement is in a prime position to play a key

role in providing structural contributions to

sustainability discussions, good practices and

innovative solutions. In turn, this approach is

actively reflected in the “good practice” delivery

of sporting events on a global, regional and local

scale, and initiatives at grassroots level. The

current plan of action in regard to sustainable

development relates to:

minimising the impact of sport on the

environment by building the appropriate

delivery infrastructure,

contributing to social equity via the intersection between environment and economy in a

communal and industrial context,

engaging youth in physical activity, thereby improving quality of life and well-being, and

through education, inspiring transformative behaviour. RIO +20 Message Youth

Although the sustainability journey continues, the IOC has shown its readiness to boost social, economic

and environmental awareness and encourage young people to engage in ecological thinking for a better

future.

Opening Ceremony London 2012 / © IOC


56

8. The IOC Youth Strategy

8.1 The vision, mission, and objectives

In October 2009, the IOC held the XIII Olympic Congress

in Copenhagen and drew up recommendations targeting

young people, based on the Congress contributions on the

theme of “Olympism and Youth”:

“The Olympic Movement must strive to extend its remit

and to increase its influence with young people across the

world, using sport as a catalyst for their education and

development.”

Among these recommendations was recommendation 50,

which called for the establishment of a Youth Strategy

within the IOC and the Olympic Movement:

“To pursue the interests and aspirations of young people, it is proposed that the IOC design a

comprehensive strategy to promote and respond to the needs and challenges faced by young people of

all social milieux worldwide [...].” Moreover, it has been recognised that “[t]he Olympic Movement

should develop and implement programmes which extend beyond the encouragement of young people in

competitive sport and which enable the widespread practice of sport and recreation to become an

embedded mantra in sports delivery programmes.”

At the IOC Executive Board meeting held in November 2011, the Youth Strategy was approved. An action

plan, aiming to identify precisely the various projects, was approved by the EB in July 2012. All projects

will be evaluated and monitored, and their relevancy will be reassessed every four years. The practice of

sport is one of the fundamental principles of the IOC‟s Olympic Charter. Furthermore, it is strongly

believed that physical activity and sport have significant benefits for health, well-being and child

development and can be a fantastic tool for peace, education and social development. Yet millions of

young people around the world have no access to physical activity or sports facilities because of their

cultural, physical, economic, social, political or environmental environment.

Taking into account the IOC‟s social responsibility and the importance of sport for young people, the IOC

has developed its Youth Strategy, with the objective of offering young people, who do not have access to

sport for whatever reason, the possibility of discovering the merits of physical activity and sport. Since its

creation, the IOC has always been committed to putting sport at the service of children and youth, and it

is already involved in various collaborative projects addressing this specific issue. The idea of the strategy

is to take advantage of the initiatives of the Olympic Movement and the IOC that work toward this

common objective and have already proven to be successful, to exploit them to their full extent, and

eventually launch new collaborative initiatives if need be.


57

The IOC Youth Strategy is built on three pillars, all very closely interlinked and interdependent.

8.2 Advocacy

Under its first pillar, the Strategy advocates the undeniable power of sport in young people‟s lives. For the

past decades, more and more people around the world have been adopting sedentary and inactive

behaviours. In parallel to this, challenges related to rapid urbanisation have also been contributing to

discouraging physical activity among the population. This is a very critical situation, with serious

implications for people‟s health, especially for children and young people. Indeed, evidence shows that

regular participation in physical activity provides children and young people with a wide range of benefits

(physical, social and mental health) and can prevent disease and disability caused by unhealthy and

sedentary living.

Aware of the seriousness of the situation, the IOC has

been working for many years in partnership with

various international organisations such as WHO,

FAO and UNESCO, to advocate the dissemination of

information and evidence regarding the benefits of

physical activity and sport for children and young

people. A Memorandum of Understanding was

renewed in 2010 with WHO to promote activities to

help people reduce their risk of non-communicable

diseases. The IOC Youth Strategy will continue to

work in cooperation with international organisations

to further define, develop and implement activities,

with the objective of changing children and young

people‟s physical activity and sedentary behaviours.

The IOC is currently studying with WHO of the possibility of developing a Physical Activity Toolkit.

This toolkit would be an inexpensive tool, which could be used worldwide to provide incentives to young

people to practise sport and adopt a healthy lifestyle. The target users of the toolkit would be primarily

Advocacy Influence to create

positive change

Education Share

knowledge and good practices

Activation Implement customised

pilot projects

© WFP


58

parents, teachers, educators and community leaders aiming to educate people on the benefits of physical

activity.

In addition to collaborating with several international organisations, the IOC will also use its own network

of NOCs, IFs and sponsors to disseminate information and evidence regarding the benefits of physical

activity and sport for children and young people. For instance, the IOC is currently working on increasing

the visibility of the activities targeting young people organised around the Olympic Day celebration.

Moreover, the IOC encourages synergies with International Federations wishing to develop

awareness programmes for a sport or some aspects of sport for children. Examples of programmes of this

kind are the International Ski Federation (FIS)‟s “World Snow Day”, which enables children and their

families to explore, enjoy and experience the snow; or IAAF KIDS‟ Athletics, which intends to bring the

excitement of athletics to children.

The IOC is also implementing a wide range of activities addressing the social dimension of sport. Indeed,

it is involved in programmes which promote intercultural dialogue, non-violence and peace through sport.

For more information on this, please refer to section 2, Human Development.

8.3 Education

The main idea of the “education” pillar of the Youth Strategy is to promote good practices and the

exchange of knowledge and know-how, to encourage the development of local initiatives. As an extension

to the Olympic Values Education Programme, which was created to maintain young people‟s interest in

sport, encouraging them to practise sport, and promoting the Olympic values, the IOC is working on the

creation of an educational online platform, a tool disseminating the Olympic values and serving as a

repository of educational materials, notably for those developed within the Olympic Movement.

The platform will be an interactive tool where teachers and educators, regardless of their cultural or

educational background, will have access to a wide range of information and training materials which

could be implemented in their

own educational programmes.

The users of the platform will

interact virtually, be inspired by

others‟ innovative projects and

benefit from exchanging

practical experience. The

overall objective of the platform

will be to create a community of

teachers and educators who can

express their views, share

experiences and seek the input

of experts, in order to build

impactful educational

programmes in their own

community. The IOC is also looking at solutions to make the content of the e-platform available through

other means, for people who don‟t have the necessary infrastructure to access an online tool.

© IStock Photo


59

In parallel to this, the IOC is working on identifying existing successful projects which use physical

activity as a tool for healthy childhood development. The idea is to create an inventory of best practices, in

which the IOC‟s stakeholders, the Olympic Movement and others could learn from the experience of

partners who have implemented similar projects, to take up some ideas that can be put forward and

adapted to different local contexts. The IOC also plans to build a similar inventory with initiatives which

use sport as a tool for development.

8.4 Activation

The “activation” pillar aims to reinforce current existing partnerships and identify new relevant partners

with whom the IOC could collaborate to enable more children and young people to have access to sport,

and to emphasise the power of sport as a valuable tool for development, which can convey positive

messages and influences behaviours

As an example, in 2010, the IOC

launched the Sport for Hope

Programme in Lusaka (Zambia), in

partnership with the NOC of Zambia,

the government of Zambia and a

group of International and National

Sports Federations. The ambition of

the programme was to provide young

people and communities in

developing countries with concrete

opportunities to practise sport and

be educated about the values of

Olympism. The Sports for Hope

Programme involves the

construction of multi-functional

sports centres in developing

countries.

After the pilot project in Lusaka, a second Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC), which will be

inaugurated in 2014, is already underway in Haiti. The sports complexes offer opportunity, not only to

athletes who come to prepare for sports competitions, but also to young people who come regularly to the

centre, and who benefit from educational programmes, health services and community activity which

improve their quality of life.

With the experience of the OYDC in Lusaka, the IOC‟s goal today is to optimise the use of this existing

centre to increase its impact in the region. The IOC will thus be working in the following months to

develop side-projects responding to the needs (social, educational, cultural, etc.) of the local populations.

OlympAfrica is another initiative in which the IOC is actively involved. It is a programme of social

development through sport, which involves the creation of centres promoting the Olympic spirit across

the African continent. The programme uses the popular appeal of sport to offer young people concrete

sporting practice opportunities, while providing at the same time development-oriented activities (life-

skills education, basic health-care services, cultural activities, HIV/AIDS prevention, arts education, etc.),

which improve the life of many young people in Africa.

OYDC Lusaka / © IOC


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Under the philosophy that sport should be a vehicle for advancing human, social and economic

development, the IOC Youth Strategy is currently working on identifying other relevant projects, with

which it could partner, to further develop the dimension of sport as a tool for development, education and

peace, which can help to promote tolerance; bridge cultural and ethnic divides; foster social integration of

minorities and marginalised groups; and contribute to the healing process of populations overcoming

trauma.

As mentioned before, in order to achieve its objective to offer young people who do not have access to

sport the possibility of discovering the benefits of physical activity and sport through concrete

programmes, the IOC cannot work alone as it cannot substitute itself for specialised development

agencies or programmes. For many years, the IOC has been able to count on the support and expertise of

many valuable partners, without whom the implementation of projects would not have been possible. The

Youth Strategy projects will continue in this path, as they will be developed and implemented in

cooperation with NOCs, IFs, IOC stakeholders, United Nations agencies and other international or

national governmental or non-governmental organisations.


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9. IOC conferences – networking, sharing ideas and dialogue

Education and Culture Conferences

1st World Forum – Lausanne, Switzerland – 1997

2nd World Forum “The IOC and its Cultural Policy” – Lausanne, Switzerland – 2000

3rd World Forum “Education through Sport” – Wiesbaden, Germany – 2002

4th World Forum “Sport: A Universal Dialogue” – Barcelona, Spain – 2004

5th World Forum “Sport and a World of Harmony: the Role of Olympic Education and Culture – Beijing, China – 2006

6th World Forum “Sport and Education for the Now Generation” – Busan, South Korea – 2008

7th IOC World Conference “Giving a Voice to Youth” – Durban, South Africa – 2010

8th IOC World Conference “Olympism Powered by Youth and Education” – Amsterdam, Netherlands - 2012

Women and Sport World Conferences

1st World Conference – Lausanne, Switzerland – 1996

2nd IOC World Conference “New Perspectives for the 21st Century” – Paris, France – 2000

3rd IOC World Conference “New Strategies, New Commitments” – Marrakech, Morocco – 2004

4th IOC World Conference “Sport as a Vehicle for Social Change” – Dead Sea, Jordan – 2008

5th IOC World Conference “Together Stronger” – Los Angeles, USA - 2012

Environmental Sustainability Conferences

1st World Conference “Green Games” – Lausanne, Switzerland – 1995

2nd World Conference – Kuwait City, Kuwait – 1997

3rd World Conference – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 1999

4th World Conference “Give the Planet a Sporting Chance” – Nagano, Japan – 2001

5th World Conference “Partnerships for Sustainable Development” – Turin, Italy – 2003

6th World Conference “Sport, Peace and Environment” – Nairobi, Kenya – 2005

7th World Conference “From Plan to Action” – Beijing, China – 2007

8th World Conference “Innovation and Inspiration: Harnessing the Power of Sport” – Vancouver, Canada – 2009

9th World Conference “Playing for a Greener Future” – Doha, Qatar – 2011

10th World Conference – Sochi, Russian Federation - 2013

International Forum on Sport for Peace and Development

1st International Forum, Lausanne, Switzerland - 2009

2nd International Forum, Geneva, UN headquarters, Switzerland – 2011

3rd International Forum, New York, UN Headquarters, USA – 2013


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Glossary of Acronyms

ANOCA Association of National Olympic Committees

AU African Union

CECAFA Confederation of East and Central African Football Associations

CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women

CEP Culture and Education Programme

CISM International Military Sports Council

CUAHA Churches United Against HIV and AIDS

FAO UN Food and Agriculture Organisation

FEI International Equestrian Federation

FIBT Fédération Internationale de Bogsleigh et de Tobogganing

FIQ International Bowling Federation

FIS International Ski Federation

IAAF International Association of Athletics Federation

IBU International Biathlon Union

ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross

IF International Sports Federation

IFNA International Federation of Netball Associations

IFPC International Fair Play Committee

IFRC International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

IGF International Golf Federation

ILO International Labour Organisation

INF International Nanbudo Federation

IO International Organisations

IOA International Olympic Academy

IOC International Olympic Committee

IOTC International Olympic Truce Centre

IOTF International Olympic Truce Foundation

ISF International Softball Federation

ITU International Triathlon Union


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IWWF International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation

LOCOG London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

MoU Memorandum of Understanding

NCDs Non-communicable Diseases

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

NOC National Olympic Committee

OCOG Organising Committee for the Olympic Games

OS Olympic Solidarity

OVEP IOC Olympic Values Education Programme

OYDC Olympic Youth Development Centre

SIDS Small Islands Developing States

SSET Sustainable Sport and Event Toolkit

UIM International Union of Powerboating

UIPM Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne

UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programmes on HIV & AIDS

UNCSD UN Conference on Sustainable Development

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNESCO United Nations Education Science and Culture Organisations

UN-Habitat United Nations Human Settlements Programme

UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNGA United Nations General Assembly

UNICEF United Nations Children‟ Fund

UNOSDP United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace

UNSG United Nations Secretary General

USOC United States Olympic Committee

WADA World Anti-Doping Agency

WCF World Curling Federation

WFP World Food Programme

WHO World Health Organisation

YOG Youth Olympic Games

Documents

Olympism in Action â€“ Sport Serving Humankind